For Love and Power
by Ivaliny
Summary: Inuyasha is a new student at a new school with a forgotten past. Together, Inuyasha and Kagome try to recover what was once lost. Can he choose between love and power?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: All Inuyasha characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi.**

**For Love and Power**

**By Ivaliny**

Chapter 1

* * *

The school bell rang as a bustle of students, eager and weary of the new school year, scoot along in the moldy hallways, trying to get to their first hour classes. The tardy bell rings and all but a few are in their classes. The few are in the courtyard throwing around a dirty old football.

"Hey! Get into class you three," yells a thin, lanky, creepy, man named Mr. Naraku. Mr. Naraku, the principal, has been subject to many horrifying stories, such as hot topics like: every night he sleeps in a coffin in his basement, or about the one time a kid went into his office and never returned, but later that day Mr. Naraku was seen carrying a box mark "heads" out of his office.

High schoolers from all around the region have heard of Mr. Naraku, and middle schoolers fear the day they go into high school. No one has ever back talked Mr. Naraku in fear of becoming his after school snack.

Kouga, the captain of the football team, caught the football and tossed it around in his hands," Oh yeah, what are you gonna do about it if we don't get to class?"

Mr. Naraku's eyes began to squint, and put his boney fingers on his skeleton hips. Kouga shifted a little and looked away for a second, but looked back at Mr. Naraku with a glare. Mr. Naraku leaned forward and whispered in a soft scratchy voice," Or, I'll make it so that you will never see a football again."

For Kouga, football was everything to him, well almost. He loved the fact that he could run around and smash guys into things without getting into trouble. Kouga grunted and cupped his hands around the football and left with his pack of followers following close behind.

In Coach Hubbard's history class, Kagome and Sango sat in the front row giggling. The two best friends had known each other since fourth grade and were practically inseparable. The two talked about their exciting summers as the students around them joined in. A group of boys in the back were trying to figure out the most comfortable position to sleep in during the class, while a group of girls gossiped about boys, breakups, and tans.

Kouga walked into Hubbard's class and said, "Heya Coach!"

Coach Hubbard, the head coach of the football team, looked at him with disappointment and said something about "tardiness is not accepted" and made him sit down.

Kouga looked around the room and spotted Kagome, giving her a big smile. Kagome wished she could have turned invisible, but smiled back half-heartedly as she looked back at Sango for help. She then realized her horrid fate when she saw an open desk beside her. She groaned quietly and looked back at her best friend. Kouga sat down next to Kagome with a big goofy grin and winked.

"Hey baby, what's up?" he asked trying to look like the coolest guy around.

Kagome looked at him and said," Uh, Hi Kouga. How are you?" As if on cue he began to rant on and on about how mad he was at Mr. Naraku for threatening football towards him. Kagome pretended to be interested, smiling occasionally hoping that it was the right time to smile. She kept praying that Sango would save her, but her friend did nothing but suppress her giggles.

Meanwhile, Coach Hubbard is talking over the students. attempting to give the expectations of the class, but no one is even trying to listen. Everyone is wrapped up in talking, that they totally forget they were in history class, much less even school. Coach Hubbard gave a defeated sigh and sits back at his desk opening a sports magazine. Suddenly the door slams open and an obnoxious but quite cute boy walks in with a "women are beautiful" t-shirt on and announces to the class, directing it towards the ladies saying," My dear, beautiful ladies, do not worry for I am back! Please, please I'm serious do not worry for your hero and all around sexy man is ready to please!" He gave a wink towards Sango trying to look as sexy as possible.

"Miroku, I've had quite enough of you last year in P.E., I wont tolerate your silliness in this class. Take a seat and sit down, and try not to sit next to a girl!" said Coach.

Miroku sat down in the seat next to Sango. "Hello my sweet, would you care to bear my children, Sango?"

Sango glared at the lady lover and gave him a warning growl as she shoved him out of his seat. Miroku quickly got up and brushed himself off as he stared dreamily at Sango. He sat down and smiled with his head resting on his hand. Sango ignored her "fan" and talked to Kagome, who still had Kouga talking her left ear off with football and how pretty she was. The two girls needed to get away from the boys that obsessed over them, but they were trapped.

Soon the door opened and everyone stopped talking. The room grew quiet within a second and all eyes were upon the stranger in the doorway. Soon students began to whisper to each other as they kept staring at the strange person. As the stranger walked over to Coach Hubbard's desk, dropping an excused tardy slip on his desk, noticed the teacher's gaped mouth.

"Uh, how may I help you?" Coach Hubbard said trying to swallow down his shock.

The stranger stared at the football coach with bright golden eyes and said, " I'm new and I'm in the class."

Coach Hubbard stared at the new student's face and said rather slowly and in a daze, stumbling over his words," Uh, well, umm what's your name?"

"Inuyasha"

Coach Hubbard swallowed again as he marked off Inuyasha's name off the absentee list. "Take a seat behind Miroku," he said pointing towards Miroku. Inuyasha looked at the guy, who was still staring dreamily at Sango oblivious to his surrounding, and rolled his eyes, grunting at the star-struck lover boy.

Everyone's eyes followed Inuyasha to his seat as he sat down. Soon people started whispering and a voice could be heard in the back," Look at his ears! He looks like a total freak." Inuyasha ignored them and stared into space with his mind elsewhere. He hated being around people. He hated the fact that he didn't fit in, or maybe it was the fact that he never wanted to fit in.

Kagome looked back towards Inuyasha and smiled. She stared at his puppy dog ears and thought they were kind of cute, but his eyes caught her attention the most. Something inside them tugged at her soul. He stared back at her with an emotionless face. She saw pain in his eyes and she wondered why. _Maybe because he is a new student, _she thought hopefully to herself. Kouga, who noticed he hadn't had Kagome's full attention looked in the direction at her stare and saw Inuyasha staring back at Kagome.

"Hey, you, Dog-face! Stop looking at mah wo-man!" Kouga said infuriated with the new student as he got up pounding his right hand into his left. A collective gasp could be heard like a wave across the room as they watched the scene before them. Inuyasha blinked but stared at Kouga with an expressionless face, but his eyes gave a tinge of annoyance.

"I said she's mah wo-man! Don't go near her, half-breed. Gosh you're such a dumb mutt!"

Inuyasha got up slowly and glared at Kouga," I couldn't care less about you or your 'wo-man'," he said making quotation marks in the air.

Kagome sat quietly watching the two, but soon became infuriated with everyone calling her Kouga's "wo-man" and decided to set the records straight. She stood up with darts towards Kouga." I'm not your 'wo-man', Kouga! I will never be your 'wo-man', so stop saying such lies you jerk! Inuyasha didn't do anything deserving to make you mad, so shut up and sit down!" she said as everyone around her could have sworn they saw a vein in her forehead pop. She sat down and gave a warning glance at Kouga and with a sigh of disgust, went back to talking to Sango. Kouga slammed his hand into his fist and mumbled threats as he pointed at Inuyasha, taking his seat with grunts and embarrassment. Inuyasha sat down also, but more calm and folded his arms as he resumed his stare into space.

Miroku, waking up out of his dreamy stupor, watched the argument, and was quite impressed. He had never seen a guy stand up to Kouga for fear of having a swirly in the bathroom toilet after class. Miroku turned around and looked at the half-breed who had his arms folded and a look of painful thought across his forehead. Miroku put his hand towards Inuyasha and said," Hi, I'm Miroku, by any chances would you know any young women who would love to bear my children?"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes with disgust at the boldness of this perverted teenager and replied," No, and I don't think women would want you to bear their children anyways. You're too desperate."

Miroku was about to say something to Inuyasha's reply when the bell rang. Miroku turned around to grab his stuff, and as he turned around Inuyasha was gone. Miroku got up and started to push his way through the crowd, squeezing the occasional butt that just so happened to get in his way. Up ahead he saw silver hair, and began to push his way through the students. Soon the crowd became thicker and he lost Inuyasha in the crowd. He looked to his right and saw a girl and raised his eyebrows with a sly smile inching across his face. He put an arm around her and started to touch her breasts. She knocked his arm off her shoulder with a scream and a slap across his face. He walked all the way to his second hour class rubbing his cheek. He walked into art class immediately noticing Sango.

"Sango, my sweet, sweet Sango! We have yet another class together!" He walked over towards her and grabbed her butt ever so lightly. She screamed and hit him upside the head with her backpack.

"Don't touch me you pervert!" she said, and with that she ran towards the front of the room frantically towards the teacher. "Is Miroku in this class?"

The teacher looked at her roster and nodded with a questioning look. Sango sighed with a groan as she hit her forehead with disbelief as she sat down in the only seat left in the classroom, the seat next to Miroku.

At lunch, the lunchroom was noisy from students' crazy banter of their summer adventures. Sango and Kagome got their lunches out of the ala cart line and sat down at a table in front of a big window. As they talked they watched the students who goof off during lunch time swing on the tree branches and throw around footballs.

"Ack! Kagome, shoot me now! I have two," Sango put up two fingers," count them TWO classes with Miroku! The horror! All during art class I was prying his greedy little fingers off my body!"

Kagome laughed at Sango's frustrating situation, but quickly stopped from the look on her best friend's face. Quickly changing the subject she asked as she stuffed nachos into her mouth," What do you think of that Inuyasha guy?"

"Oh, well, umm he seems kind of stuck up and full of it. Also, the fact that he has dog ears, piercing golden eyes, and silver hair puts him on the extremely weird side if you ask me."

Kagome sighed sadly," I guess so." She finished eating her nachos, and began to lick the cheese off her fingers. Glancing up, she saw Kouga walking arrogantly towards her with his pack close behind. Feeling stalked, Kagome quickly stood up, throwing her backpack upon her shoulders, and made a zigzag around the tables towards the lunchroom doors. Sango watched her friend go around tables, knocking lunches over, and bumping people, and began to wonder why Kagome hadn't said anything about leaving. Sango heard Kouga's voice behind her and froze. _So that__'s why_, she thought. Looking behind her, she grabbed her stuff and ran to the door trying to catch up with Kagome when she ran into someone. Her body began to fall to the ground as she tried to see who she had bumped into. She landed on something squishy, but her head hit the floor.

Sango moved her hand towards her head not realizing she was still on top of the person she had run into. "Ow, my head." She didn't notice the movement underneath until the person beneath her began grouping her thigh. Sango screamed and jumped up. She looked in horror as she saw Miroku laying on the ground with his eyes closed, smiling, and groping the air.

The whole lunchroom roared with laughter at the sight and Sango felt the heat in her face rise. Kagome heard the commotion and her curiosity took over. Walking back into the lunchroom she saw Sango yelling at Miroku, Miroku hugging Sango, and Kouga walking towards her. She ran up to Sango and grabbed her by the arm, pulling her out of the lunchroom without realizing Miroku was still attached to her friend.

"Oh my dearest Sango, are you alright?" asked a clingy Miroku.

"Ack! Get him off of me!"

Kagome turned around and pried Miroku's fingers off of Sango's breast, his hands had "accidently" slipped. Kagome and Sango ran into the bathroom without stopping until they came to the line of mirrors along the wall. Kagome sighed with relief and sat down as her friend did the same.

"Oh this year is going to be terrible!" Sango said breathlessly.

"I know what you mean! I feel stalked, and Kouga acts like he owns me, and good grief, once he starts talking he'll never stop! I'm sure if I was choking on a piece of food and Kouga was talking, I'd die right there without him noticing. Especially if he was talking about football"

They both closed their eyes and sighed in unison as they sat there in silence thinking about the men in their life until the third hour bell rang. The two girls got up and walked off their separate ways to their classes.

"Please say Miroku's not in my class, please!" whispered Sango, who was crossing her fingers. As she entered the room she said one last plea and ran towards the teacher's desk. "Please say he's not in this class!"

"Who?" asked the teacher.

"Miroku!"

The teacher looked at her roster and shook her head. Sango let out a sigh of relief and sat down with a smile. _This is much better!_

Kagome walked into her class and sat down. She watched as her classmates filed in and took their seats talking about the "Sango/Miroku" incident that happened in the lunchroom. Kagome felt sorry for her friend, and thought that if she didn't runaway from Kouga this would have never happened. Quickly she shook her head no to that thought and changed her mind. _No I did the right thing. Kouga still would have talked my ear off and smothered me._

Kagome wandered back into reality when she spotted silver hair walk into the room. Inuyasha sat down in the corner of the room, and immediately folded his arms. He noticed her looking at him and raised an eyebrow. Quickly, Kagome looked away hoping he hadn't noticed her blushing.

A few minutes after the third hour bell rang, sounding off the beginning of class, a tall sophisticated, arrogant man walked in the room with his head held up high. The students stared as they watched him sit down in the back of the room. He had short platinum blonde hair, but some say it was more silver than anything.

Ms. Lundien, the home economics teacher began to call off names on her roster for the roll check. The students said here all around the room, and few made stupid comments like "present". Pretty soon everyone on the sheet was named off and Ms. Lundien began to inform the students of the class rules.

"Since we will be working in the kitchens a lot this year, I will NOT tolerate horseplay. You all are in high school and should act mature. One mishap and I will send you straight to the principal without a warning."

Inuyasha snorted and looked towards the man who came in late to class. The man stared back at Inuyasha with an emotionless stare.

Ms. Lundien went on," And the last thing, I will not tolerate tardies," and looked at the short haired silver man who gave an " I-don't-care" look her way. " So do not be late again Mr. Sesshoumaru."

Sesshoumaru stared back at her and blinked once but his expression did not change. Kagome looked at him and sighed with irritation. _Sesshoumaru__'s such a jerk!_ She looked closely at him and saw something familiar in his eyes that she had never seen before. Quickly, she erased the thought from her mind and put her attention on the teacher.

"Now, to start of the class period, I shall assign you all kitchen partners. Your partners will sit with you and cook with you all year long," said Ms. Lundien, pulling out three pieces of paper from a bucket. "Ah, and our first group, who will sit over there," points to a table," Kagome…Sesshoumaru, and…Inuyasha."

At hearing his name Inuyasha unfolded his arms with surprise and stared at the teacher to see if he had heard right. Kagome looked over at Inyuasha, smiled, but saw that he wasn't looking at her, he was glaring at Sesshoumaru. Sesshoumaru looked back at Inuyasha and gave an eye brow twitch and an evil smirk.

"Inuyasha, Kagome, and Sesshoumaru, please go to your seats now!"

Kagome got up slowly, now feeling a dreaded uneasiness about the new arrangement, and began to walk over towards the table. Sesshoumaru got up as well and walked over towards the table. Kagome sat in the middle as Sesshoumaru pulled up a seat to the right of her. Pretty soon Inuyasha came over grumbling and glaring at Sesshoumaru as he sat down. Sesshoumaru leaned forward to look past Kagome and gave one of his famous evil smirks. Kagome could feel a swear drop fall down her face as her heart pounded. _Do they know each other?_ she thought. _Why do I have this creepy uneasy feeling. Sesshoumaru seems way too nice right now. OH please don__'t do anything, you jerk, _Kagome pleaded in her mind as she thought about the demon sitting next to her.

"Hello, little brother," sneered Sesshoumaru with a smirk.

"Sesshoumaru! I'll tear you from limb to limb if you trying anything!" Inuyasha growled.

"Calm down brother, you don't want what happened last time to happen to you, do you?" Sesshoumaru asked giving an authoritative tone as his evil smirk got larger.

"Do not bring the past into this, Sesshoumaru!"

Kagome started to breath heavily. _Oh my gawd! They__'re brothers! That's what was so familiar about Sesshoumaru. They're related. _Kagome started to scoot her chair back to get out of the way. Knowing Sesshoumaru he'd want to fight, and if Inuyasha's related, then all hell will break loose. _If they__'re brother, why are they at each other's throats?_

"Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha, don't make me make you go to the principal's. Stop it, you're scaring Kagome!" Ms. Lundien said.

Inuyasha grunted and crossed his arms with defeat like a little child who didn't get his way. He shook his head and looked at Sesshoumaru before glaring into space. Sesshoumaru smiled yet again and leaned back into his chair, crossing his arms calmly and cooly. Kagome looked at both brothers as a chill went up her spine. _Something is wrong with them, _she thought sarcastically as she rolled her eyes.

Ms. Lundien gave the students the rest of the class period to do whatever they wanted. Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha didn't speak or movie, except for Inuyasha occasional grunt. Kagome felt awkward, and sighed at a lot to show her boredom. Inuyasha looked over at Kagome after she had sighed for the fortieth time, and it scared her.

"What is wrong with you? Stop sighing, you stupid girl!"

"I'm not stupid and I'm bored thank you very much," Kagome said as she gave a little pout.

Inuyasha shook his head and went back to his stare. Kagome saw he was thinking hard and it was about something painful, because of the way his eyebrows creased. _I wonder what he is thinking. What has given him so much pain? _A few minutes afterward Kagome was going to sigh again when Inuyasha interrupted her.

"Well, I guess you could talk to me," he said still staring into space. "Just don't ask a lot of questions okay!"

Kagome looked at Inuyasha with an eyebrow raised. _What? I wonder if he__'s hiding something. He's so mysterious. _"Well, umm…you're new to this school, right?" she asked hesitantly.

Inuyasha looked over at Kagome and then back to his "staring spot". "Yeah, so?"

Kagome looked at him in surprise. " I was just asking a simple question. There's no need to get defensive about it!"

Kagome crossed her arms and glared into her lap. _Ugh! It was just a simple question. This class sucks. Oh great, if Inuyasha is anything like Sesshoumaru, this is going to be one long tough year!__"_

"Hey, Kagome, can you take me home?" asked Sango after school.

"Of course girl! You don't have to ask you loser!" said Kagome with a playful smile.

They both walked towards Kagome's red Tiburon. Sango could see that someone was laying on top of the hood, but couldn't tell who it was. Kagome saw it also and began to grown angry. _That jerk__'s gonna ruin the paint!_ As they grew nearer to the red sports car they were greeted by a very smiley Miroku.

"Why looky-look, there are two of the most beautiful girls in the school," he said hugging Sango, lightly brushing his hand along her butt. Sango backed up away from Miroku, and both girls gave him a suspicious look.

Miroku laughed nervously," Umm, Kagome, can I ask you for a favor?"

Sango put her hands on her hips," Why aren't you going to ask me!"

Kagome looked at Sango in surprise of her question and saw jealousy clouding Sango's eyes.

"Oh well, I would but I know you would say no, my sweet lovely Sango," he said with an adorable smile.

Kagome looked at her best friend with a confused look. _What? What is she doing? She doesn__'t like Miroku, does she?_

"So will you do me a favor, Kagome?"

"Miroku, I will not bear you a son, I'm sorry."

Miroku looked at Kagome with a smile and began to laugh. "Oh dear Kagome, did you think I was going to ask you to bear me a son? I know you wont, because I have the bruise from last year when you hit me with your purse. I was going to ask you if you'd take me home."

"OOOhh, well sure!" Kagome said with a big smile.

Sango sighed with a sound of relief. Miroku walked toward the Tiburon and opened the passenger side door, helping Sango into the car, putting his hand lightly on her butt. He closed the door behind her and did same for Kagome. Pulling out of the school parking lot, Miroku asked Sango if he could massage her shoulders. She turned around in her seat and looked at him.

"What? Huh, why!" she asked suspiciously.

"You look stressed, my sweet Sango," he said in a concerned tone.

Sango noticed that she was indeed tense and didn't know why. She sighed and said alright. Miroku started to massage her shoulders and Sagno began to relax. To her surprise he didn't use it as an excuse to touch her boobs, but he actually massaged her shoulder, and very well.

On their way to Miroku's house, Kagome saw long silver hair walking down the sidewalk. She drove up beside him and rolled down Sango's window.

"Hey, Inuyasha, do you want a ride?"

He kept on walking and said," I'd much rather walk."

"Well I don't mind, I promise!" she said with a smile.

Inuyasha looked up at Kagome, looked at her car, then said," I guess it wouldn't hurt." He noticed her smile get even larger and thought if it was even possible. _She__'s being way too nice to me, and why?_

Kagome told him she would wait for him in the parking lot a block ahead, and zoomed off. She parked and waited for Inuyasha and soon saw him walking toward the parking lot. Sango moved to the backseat with the help of Miroku and sat next to him, a little mad that her massage was interrupted. Inuyasha opened the door and looked at the backseat at Sango melting like butter and Miroku intently massaging Sango's shoulders, and rolled his eyes. After everyone was seated, Kagome drove out of the parking lot and headed yet again for Miroku's house.

"If by any chance we go by your house Inuyasha, tell me, okay?"

"Okay," said Inuyasha who was staring out the window, watching buildings go by.

The car went quiet for a few minutes. Once again Kagome felt awkward being around Inuyasha and a little bit wished she hadn't insisted on driving him home. _There__'s something about him, I just can't describe it. It draws me towards him, but why and what is it?_ She looked at Inuyasha and saw his ears twitching. _What is he? He has dog ear like a dog, and they look so__…so…soft. I wish I could touch them._ Just then the silenced car was interrupted by a satisfying groan from the backseat followed by movement. Inuyasha's ears shot straight up, but his face did not change.

* * *

**A/N: Woot! First chapter down! I wrote this story a very, very long time ago back in 2003. I must say, my writing skills have improved greatly, and that makes me happy! I hope you all like this! Thank you for reading, and please review! I'd love it so much if you did. **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: All Inuyasha characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi.**

**For Love and Power**

**by Ivaliny**

Chapter 2

* * *

"Oooooooh, Miroku! That hits the spot! Ooooooh!" squealed Sango in contentment.

Kagome went wide-eyed and swerved around on the road, nearly missing a mailbox." Ahh! What are you two doing back there!" she asked looking behind her toward the backseat. Inuyasha grabbed onto the side of the car door and yelled, "LOOK WHERE YOU'RE GOING!"

"Huh?" Kagome asked as she looked at Inuyasha with confusion. "OH! AAAH!" Kagome yelled as she swerved again to miss a car by only a few inches. Kagome found the nearest parking lot and stopped the car. She sat white knuckled staring out the windshield trying to cat her breath. She finally found her breath and pried her hands off the steering wheel finger by finger.

"Is everyone alright?" she asked shakily. Kagome looked behind her and saw Sango holding onto Miroku, both having a look of horror upon their faces.

"He was only rubbing a knot on my back, I'm sorry Kagome!" Sango said still holding onto Miroku.

"If I knew I was putting my life in danger, I wouldn't have ever gotten into this car!" growled Inuyasha. Kagome looked at him and saw that he was still clutching the side of the car door, and drove out of the parking lot. Sango, realized who she was holding onto and pushed Miroku away with disgust.

"Don't come near me, and nothing happened, okay!" she said rubbing her shoulder. _The knot is totally gone! That was almost magic, but yet even knowing I hate him, I liked him touching me_. She looked over at Miroku, who had a confused look, and shivered. _Ugh, He__'s so disgusting, but awww he looks so cute sitting there. _Realizing what she had just thought she slapped her cheek causing Inuyasha to look back at her with an eyebrow raised. Finally they arrived at Miroku's house, and Kagome parked in his driveway.

"Goodbye my sweet darling Sango! I'll see you tomorrow! Thank you, Kagome! Bye Inuyasha!" he said walking up his driveway.

"Bye, Miroku!" yelled Kagome. Both Inuyasha and Sango folded their arms, but Inuyasha grunted a "bye", and Sango just sat there looking out the window intently. Kagome pulled out of the driveway and headed towards Sango's house.

"Sango, what exactly were you and Miroku doing earlier?" Kagome asked.

Sango looked up from her staring position and yelled defensively," Nothing! We did nothing! He was just rubbing a knot in my shoulder. Oh and his hands," she said as her mind drifted off dreamily out the window, but soon reality sunk in and grew defensive yet again. "It was nothing, okay?"

Inuyasha laughed," Ha! Riiiiight," as he laughed harder. Kagome and Sango both looked at him in shock. _Was he laughing?_ Kagome thought. Inuyasha looked at Kagome then at Sango and quickly shut up. _That was stupid_, though Inuyasha.

Soon the three drove into Sango's driveway and Sango told Kagome to call her that night. They parted from Sango's driveway in silence. Inuyasha sighed and looked out the window as they drove onto the main road.

"So how do I get to your house, Inuyasha?" No answer.

"Hello? How do I get to your house, Inuyasha?" she asked waving a hand in front of his dazed face. Nothing happened. "Hellooooo? Earth to Inuyasha! Why are you always staring into space? What are you thinking about?"

"Huh, What?" asked Inuyasha with confusion.

"I asked you what you were thinking about."

Inuyasha opened his mouth ready to say something, but shook his head angrily instead. "It's nothing! I'm thinking about nothing! And if it was something then it would be none of your business!"

Kagome replied with a sigh," Gosh, I was just wondering. There's no need to bite my head off, again."

Inuyasha only grunted. "So where's your house?" Kagome asked.

"I'll tell you, go to the north side of town, and I'll tell you from there." Kagome looked at Inuyasha and said okay.

The north side of town was were most of the rich people lived and most of the apartments. The north side also was a lot busier and Kagome hated driving in it. Another thing that scared Kagome to death of the north side, was the fact that most of the demons that weren't killed during the Seele War lived there. They were mean and ruthless, but kept to the laws of the town. Kagome, although, still felt uneasy about demons.

"Go to that gas station and drop me off there," he pointed towards a gas station. Kagome obeyed and drove into the parking lot, stopping the car.

"You live here?" asked Kagome teasingly.

"No, but I'll walk the rest of the way."

"Oh, well I don't mind taking you to your house, really I don't."

"Kagome, I'd much rather walk, okay?"

Kagome sighed and said okay, " I'll see you tomorrow, Inuyasha," waved Kagome. Inuyasha grunted and said "bye".

On Kagome's way home, she though about Inuyasha. _If he lives on the north side of town, then his father or mother must be a Seele War veteran. I wonder what kind of demon he is. He__'s interesting, that's for sure. And the fact that he's related to Sesshoumaru, but they don't look anything alike, accept the silver hair and the tallness, that's about it. So if Sesshoumaru is his brother then he's a full demon, too, but why does he have dog ears and Sesshoumaru doesn't?_

Sesshoumaru was a powerful dog demon. He doesn't care about humans, and actually participated in the last years of the Seele War. It would make his day to see humans down at his feet. His father was one of the most powerful demons that ever lived, but died when Sesshoumaru was six or seven in demon years. Ever since then, he's tried to be as powerful and most feared like his father, but never will be able to. He's a flea compared to his father.

Kagome gasped," Does that mean Inuyasha's father is Sesshoumaru's?"

After supper, Kagome thanked her mother for the meal and then went into her room to call Sango.

"Hey, What's up?" asked Kagome.

"Oh, well, umm nothing."

"Hmm, Sango, you've been saying nothing a lot. What happened in the backseat this afternoon? 'Cuz to me and Inuyasha, it sounded like more than just a shoulder rub."

"Kagome," she said with a sigh," I can promise you it wasn't anything more than a shoulder rub." Sango sighed again," But it's confusing me. I can't stop thinking about it."

Kagome laughed, " Do NOT tell me you like Miroku!"

Sango laughed nervously, " Yeah, right! Miroku's a pervert and he's disgusting! Eww! No way do I like Miroku." Sango thought to herself,_ But do I really? Am I lying to myself?__"_

"Whew! That's good to know, I'd be scared if you did!" Kagome laughed. Sango laughed with her nervously, " Heh, yeah."

For the first time in all the years they'd known each other, there was a long silence over the phone and Kagome got scared. " Hello? Sango? Are you still alive?"

"Huh, what? Oh yeah, sorry, I'm thinking." Sango said a bit dazed.

"Ooookay then," Kagome said sarcastically. "Oh by the way, if you need a ride after school tomorrow, then you'll have to come with me to cheerleading practice."

"Actually I have volleyball practice after school, but we get done around five."

"Hey! Me too! I'll take you home after our practices."

The two girls talked a couple hours more and decided to go to bed when both could barely speak right. They were slurring all over the place and repeating questions to each other. By then they were pretty much dead tired. Sango went to sleep thinking about Miroku and wondered what he was doing right then. It all gave her a headache, but she finally fell asleep. Kagome fell asleep thinking about Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru, wondering how they were related.

Kagome came to school early to save a seat for Sango for first period. She picked the front row seats again and put her backpack in one and her book in another. People started making their way into the classroom talking about random stuff. Inuyasha walked in with his books in one arm. Kagome stood up and waved her hand up in the air motioning for Inuyasha. "Inuyasha! Come sit next to me!"

He looked around the room moving his head fast, checking out the situation. He walked over towards the desk next to Kagome and sat down. He stretched out in the chair and crossed his arms as he glared at Kagome. She smiled, but thought,_ what did I do now?_ Inuyasha looked at her somewhat shocked at her smile, but quickly hid it and closed his eyes in thought. _Why did she smile at me? I was clearly glaring at her and her buddy-buddy niceness!_

Soon Miroku came in through the door and walked over to Kagome. "Thank you for the ride home last night. I had fun!" he said with a smile.

Kagome answered back with an eyebrow raised, " Uh, sure anytime Miroku."

Miroku took a seat next to Kagome's backpack and she started to panic. _Oh gosh, Sango will not like this. She__'s gonna kill me! She doesn't like him and it's all my fault. Sorry Sango!_ Miroku made small chit chat with her as Kagome looked around nervously looking for her friend. Sango was usually always on time and pretty soon the tardy bell rang. Kagome looked at the desk next to her with her backpack laying lazily in the seat. _Where__'s Sango?_

Coach Hubbard went through his usual morning routine and checked role. He then started to talk about a war that happened fifty years ago called the Seele War. Kagome tried to pay attention but her mind was off somewhere else worried about Sango whereabouts.

"We will be doing many projects this year, so to start of the new school year, we will do a project. It can be about anything you want as long as it pertains to history. I will assign you all partners, and the project is due next Tuesday, any questions?"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes underneath his closed eyelids. His thoughts this morning were towards the things that happened last night. Inuyasha crossed his eyebrows and clinched his teeth in anger. He kept on thinking as he didn't bother to listen to Coach Hubbard.

"Now I'm going to pair you off into groups…"

_Ugh, why did Sesshoumaru come to my house last night? What does he want? If he did anything to my mother last night, I will show him no mercy!_

Inuyasha thought about the events of last night. He had come home from his walk from the gas station and saw Sesshoumaru sitting oh their couch whispering something to Inuyasha's mother. Sesshoumaru looked up and saw Inuyasha and smiled, but with evil in his eyes.

"Little brother! I was just getting more acquainted with your mother. She is quite a lovely lady. No wonder father left my mother to be with her."

"Sesshoumaru! Why are you here?" asked Inuyasha with fists ready to fight.

"I already told you, you're very observant aren't you?" he asked with sarcasm.

"Get out of my house Sesshoumaru!"

"Awww, what a pity, do you even remember out father?"

"Sesshoumaru, GET OUT! I never want to see you around my mother again!"

Sesshoumaru got up off the couch and leaned forwards, towering over Inuyasha's mother, and bent down to kiss her forehead. He turned around and smiled, mocking Inuyasha's existence as Inuyasha growled at his brother ready to beat up the older demon. Soon Inuyasha felt Sesshoumaru's presence beside him and swung for the head with his fist, but missed. Sesshoumaru grabbed his brother by the arm and spat into his face, looking deep into his eyes.

"Humans are pathetic, but half breeds are disgusting! You will NEVER be in the same class as me, you disgusting half breed," Sesshoumaru growled as he walked out through the doorway towards his green panoz.

Inuyasha's thoughts were interrupted by a voice.

"Inuyasha? Hello? You're my partner for the project."

Inuyasha looked up and saw someone that shocked him. He sniffed her scent and gazed into her eyes with disbelief. _Her scent is different, but she look so much like__…_

"Kikyou?" he asked cautiously.

"Huh? Who's Kikyou? I'm Kagome, remember me?"

"What?" asked Inuyasha angrily. He glared at Kagome as if it was her fault she wasn't this Kikyou person. Looking at him half confused and half scared she thought,' Boy, he's is a very interesting character, scary too!'

"So what are we going to do our project on? Kagome asked. Inuyasha shrugged his shoulders and said," I don't care."

"Hmm, well I think we should do it over the Jewel of Augapfel."

"The Jewel of Aug…what?" Inuyasha asked in an annoyed tone.

"The Jewel of Augapfel, you know the most powerful weapon in the universe? A jewel made from the most feared demon from The Seele War. You've never heard of it?" she asked a little bewildered.

"Never heard of it," he replied in monotone.

"Well, it's actually quite a romantic story."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. Kagome saw that as a sign to tell him the story. "Well, The Jewel of Augapfel is the most powerful weapon known to have ever existed on the Earth. It has the power to destroy half of the country and maybe even more in one ghastly explosion! It was created a long time ago during the Seele War - you know the war between the demons and humans - by the most powerful and feared demon to protect his human mistress. No one knows if it is still in existence, but many demons and humans want their hands on the Jewel so they could rule the world. They've searched all over, but none has ever found it."

Inuyasha looked at her blankly then started laughing, he grabbed his sides and gasped as he looked at Kagome's serious face," Oh, you were being serious?"

Kagome crossed her arms and glared at him," Hmph! Inuyasha the Jewel of Augapfel is a real! It's serious! If an evil demon gets the Jewel, the world is doomed as we know it!"

Inuyasha raised a suspicious eyebrow," There is no such thing as a "good" demon either. Lets do our project over the Jewel of Augapfel. I'd really like to learn more about it; it's very interesting."

Kagome gave him an uncertain look and thought,maybe_ this a bad idea._

Soon two people walked through the door. Everyone in the classroom looked to see who they were, and curious of why they walked into the classroom late.

"Heya Coach! Sorry we're late," Kouga said as he handed Coach Hubbard a slip of paper and looked around the room, winking at Kagome as his eyes passed by her.

"Ah, I see you're tardiness is excused, so sit down!"

Kouga put an arm around Sango as she roller her eyes and looked over at Miroku. Miroku was staring at her in shock and disbelief with a tinge of jealousy in his eyes. She saw the jealousy and smiled, as if she liked to see him jealous. She quickly threw Kouga's arm off her shoulder and said, "You creep! Get your arm off me! You're the reason why I'm late to school you jerk!" She walked over to the seat in between Miroku and Kagome sighing with exhaustion and anger. Sango looked over at Kagome, who returned her glance with a confused expression.

"What?" asked Sango, still annoyed with Kouga.

"Sango, why were you late?" Kagome asked suspiciously. Miroku leaned in closer to hear the conversation easier. "And why did you come in with Kouga?"

"Ugh! I would have been here on time if Kouga hadn't seen me!"

"Why? What happened?" Kagome asked with interest.

Sango sighed and cleared her throat, ready to tell the tale. "Okay, I was walking to school like I always do, and you know it usually takes about fifteen minutes to walk to school, right? Well, I was starting on my walk when Kouga drove by and asked if I wanted a ride. So I was thinking, Okay I'm going to get to school faster and I can beat you to school for once," Sango said with a wink at her best friend.

Kagome laughed," Okay, so you wanted to beat me to school, go on."

"Right! So I got into his car and holy crap! He drives like a maniac! That boy should never have gotten his license! On his maniac rampage he bumped into the person in front of him; therefore, we were late to school."

Kagome laughed even harder, but was interrupted by Sango. "The whole time he wouldn't shut up about you, Kagome! He was all like, Oh Kagome this and Kagome that! It was really pathetic. He was even talking about marrying you!"

Kagome choked on her laugh and stared at Sango in disbelief, "WHAT?"

"Yeah, he really like you. I think you should go out with him. You two would look so cute together!" squealed Sango.

Kagome looked back behind her and saw Kouga looking at her. She turned around really fast and started to hypervenelate, "Eww! I couldn't go out with Kouga! He smells like sweat, he talks about footabll, and he's obnoxious! I mean sure he's hot and has a nice body, but personality is what counts.

Sango rolled her eyes," Oh please Kagome! Were in high school! Personality doesn't count until we're out of high school, so until then we're stuck with really hot hunks with the personality of poop! It's not like you'll ever find your life soul mate in high school! That's just ridiculous!"

"Well obviously Kouga thinks he's found his life's mate!" Kagome looked at the hunky football player, and leaned in closer to Sango and with a whisper said," Sometimes I don't even think he's human at all but a demon!"

It was Sango's turn to be stunned with disbelief," WHAT? Kouga? A demon? He isn't a demon, you're crazy!"

Inuyasha grunted with a smirk and laughed sarcastically," HA!"

"Well he's not a demon! Demons are mean and evil and hate humans! They wouldn't be in love with humans! Take Sesshoumaru for instance, he's ruthless! Remember last year when he killed that on guy because he cut in line at the lunch line?" Sango asked.

Kagome remembered that day and shuddered, _Demons can do practically whatever they want. It__'s not right, humans get put into jail for life or ever to death when they kill someone, but demons just get a slap on the wrist._

Inuyasha muttered to himself," He's done worse than that."

Sango ignored Inuyasha and went on," Therefore, Kouga couldn't be a demon. Sure he likes to hurt people, but that's what football players do!"

Kagome shrugged her shoulders," All I'm saying is that there's something about Kouga that just isn't human."

Miroku was listening to intently he was practically falling out of his seat eavesdropping on the conversation. He looked back towards Kouga, then towards Inuyasha. Miroku squinted his eyes and looked back at Kouga, who looked back at Miroku.

"Hey! Stop staring at me you perv!" Kouga said as he pounded his fist into his hand.

Miroku turned around quickly and looked at Sango. "Hmm, maybe Kouga is a demon!" he said fearing for his life.

Sango rolled her eyes," Just because someone threatens you doesn't mean anything! I've threatened you, hit you, and lots of other painful stuff; does that mean I'm a deamon, too?" she asked.

"Oh my dearest Sango! You're too beautiful to be a demon! You can hit me as many times as you like, 'cuz I like it when you touch me," he winked. Sango growled at him and told him to shut up. Miroku sighed and mentioned to Sango that she looked tense and that he would be more than happy to rub her shoulders. That resulted in a shut up and a book thrown at Miroku's face.

Kagome suggested, returning her attention again towards Inuyasha and their project, "You can come over to my house after school tomorrow, and we can work on the Jewel then."

"I don't care," Inuyasha shrugged. Kagome arched an eyebrow, smiled, and nodded her head," Okay then!"

"Hey!" Miroku said to Kagome as he cut in the lunch line next to her.

"Hi, Miroku! What's up?" Kagome asked grabbing her usual lunch, nachos. Miroku stood behind her concentrating on piling up his lunch tray high with food and replied," Not a whole lot, I guess." Kagome couldn't help but notice the sadness in his tone. Both of them paid for their lunches and Kagome couldn't get over the fact that she had actually heard Miroku with a sad voice. In all the years she had known him, she had never seen him sad. She felt sorry for him. She hadn't noticed it until now, but Miroku was human, and he could be really sweet and thoughtful when he wanted. _I guess he isn__'t really that perverted little boy I used to know. _

She watched Miroku make his way to the table next to the girls bathroom where he spent most of his time trying to look inside, watching them all alone.

"Miroku, wait up! Do you want to sit with Sango and me?" Kagome asked.

Miroku's face lit up with happiness and a smile etched across his face," Thank you dearest, Kagome."

Kagome and Miroku walked towards the table where Sango was already seated. Sango looked up from her sandwich and watched as Miroku sat down at their table. Her eyes widened with horror and betrayal when she gave Kagome a confused looked. Miroku looked at Sango, smiled and soon started stuffing his face with food.

"Hello my lovely Sango! Your drawing in art class was beautiful."

Sango gave him a quizzical look,"Huh, how was it beautiful? It was stick people and a rainbow!"

"Oh I know that, but I can tell it was from you heart! Your heart is beautiful, Sango."

She rolled her eyes," Uh huh."

Miroku looked hurt but he kept on smiling at the irritated girl sitting across from him. Sango said she needed to go to the bathroom, threw her stuff away, and left. Miroku sighed before he went back to eat as he stared at the spot where his love was sitting.

_There it is again, the sad face. Miroku has a sad face!_ Kagome thought as she was suddenly feeling very uncomfortable sitting at the table alone with Miroku. He was scaring her, something was wrong, and she wanted to figure it out.

"Miroku, I know I'm not your closest friend, but if something is wrong you can always tell me. I'm a pretty good listener."

"Thank you, Kagome, and I'll take you up on that offer," he said with a half-hearted smile. Kagome smiled and nodded, waiting for him to tell her.

He sighed," Well, I like Sango."

"What? Really? I didn't know you liked a certain girl. I always thought you acted as if you liked every girl you meet!"

Miroku laughed," I only did that to make Sango jealous, and I also have a weakness for a nice butt grab. I can't help it! It runs through my blood." Miroku gave a mischievous smile," You know, that's how my father met my mother."

Kagome laughed a bit," That explains a lot, but how long have you liked Sango?"

"Call my crazy, but since the first day of fourth grade when she moved here."

Kagome gasped in shock," You've liked her for that long?" Miroku blushed. "Okay, so you're sad why?" Kagome asked.

"Well, because she doesn't like me, and she never has. She's rude and every time she is, it hurts me, but I can't help but love her!"

" If you didn't grope her all the time she might like you," she mumbled sweetly to herself. Kagome remembered the afternoon she took Inuyasha, Miroku, and Sango home. _Sango was acting pretty weird after that ride, and ever since then she__'s been a lot meaner to perverted boy over there. _Then realization dawned on her and she gasped, "Oh boy!"

Miroku stared at the pretty dark haired, cheerleader with confusion," What?"

Kagome smiled as if she was hiding something and said. " Oh it's nothing. Don't worry about Sango. If you want I can help you make Sango fall head over heels for you," she winked. "Besides, you and Sango would be the cutest couple if you were together!"

"Thank you, Kagome," Miroku said stuffing his face with food," but I have to ask, why are you being so nice to me? Usually you would have run away a long time ago."

Kagome looked down at her nachos, saddened by the truth and looked Miroku in the eyes. "I'm sorry. To tell you the truth I couldn't stand you until I took you home the other night. I'm really sorry, Miroku. I'd really like to be your friend. Taking you home that night made me realize you aren't such a bad guy after all. I hope you can forgive me and accept my friendship."

Miroku smiled," Of course I will!"

Kagome looked out the window and saw Inuyasha by himself sitting under a tree. He sat there with his head resting on the trunk with his eyes closed.

"Miroku, we need to become friends with Inuyasha. Look at him! He's out there sitting by himself. No one should be alone."

"I agree, no one should be alone."

Sango soon returned from the bathroom only to find that Miroku was still sitting at the table. "Oh, I see you're still here." She sat down next to Kagome as her annoyed expression returned. Miroku smiled at her and kept on eating his food.

"I'm glad you could return, Sango," he said with a smile as food particles escaped his mouth. Sango grimaced at the sight and nodded with disbelief at how disgusting he was. While Sango was glaring at Miroku's presence, Kagome wrote down her number on a piece of paper and sneakily passed it over to him. Sango watched him put a piece of paper in his pocket and wondered what it said.

"Sango, Miroku and I were just discussing about the fact that Inuyasha needs to hang out with us."

"Us? 'Us' as in Miroku and you or you and me?" Sango asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, and I know the perfect way!" Miroku said excitedly. "My brother, Miati, do you remember him Kagome?"

"Uh, yeah, I remember him. How could I not remember him? He was a bigger pervert than you! You are sweet and innocent compared to him!"

Miroku laughed," It runs in the family, but anyways, he's having a party this Saturday at this old house in the country. He wanted me to invite some people, and I was thinking maybe I could take you girls and Inuyasha."

"Oh well, umm, I have something to do on Saturday," Sango said quickly. Miroku's smile weakened.

"Oh…"

"Well I'm sorry that you can't come Sango, but I'd more more than happy to go, Miroku! Maybe Sango if you can get out of your 'something' this weekend, you can go with me to Miati's party," she said giving Sango a "you better come or else" look. Sango glared at her best friend. _What is she doing? Does she even remember what Miati did last year?_ Sango questioned.

"Maybe," she said.

Soon the third hour bell rang, interrupting a funny conversation between Kagome and Miroku. Kagome jumped out of her bed in horror at the sound of the bell. "Oh no! My next class is with Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru! NOOO!"

Sango and Miroku looked at each other completely confused. "Oh good! The perfect way to ask Inuyasha to the party." Miroku said. Kagome rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"You don't understand, I'm in the next class with them…together!"

Sango looked at her friend still confused," Soo…what's the big deal about that?"

"Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru are brothers, that's why!"

Sango and Miroku gasped at the same time," Brothers?"

" I didn't know Sesshoumaru had a brother," Sango said in disbelief.

"You mean there are TWO Sesshoumaru's at this school now? Inuyasha is a full demon?" Miroku asked in shock and horror. "That explains his rudeness."

Kagome shrugged and looked at her watch," Ah! I got to get going! I don't want to be late. See you at five, Sango, and Miroku call me tonight, okay?"

"Yeah sure!" Miroku said as Kagome quickly turned around putting on her backpack before speeding off into the crowd of students. Oleg

Kagome made her ways through the halls to her classroom, dodging the occasional person who stops in the middle to talk to a friend, and looking behind her to see Inuyasha a few feet back. She pondered if she should wait up for him, but decided she had better not, because she figured he hated her.

She was usually the first one to every classroom, this day she was beat by an unlikely person. She blamed her excessive talking during lunch, entering the room with a sigh. The person smiled and waved at her.

"Hello, Kagome! I saved you a seat next to me so we can talk," Sesshoumaru said.

Kagome looked at him with confusion," What are you talking about? That's already my assigned seat."

Sesshoumaru looked over at the seat and gave a little chuckle," HA! So it is." Kagome rolled her eyes and sat down in her seat. Sesshoumaru smiled at her, making her feel extremely uncomfortable. Inuyasha entered the room and saw his brother smiling at Kagome, and something began to stir within him, jealousy.

"Hi Inuyasha, how are you today?" Sesshoumaru asked with a sly smirk.

Inuyasha glared at the handsome demon and told him to shut up. Ms. Lundien started the class off by assigning half the class to cooking and the other half to do absolutely nothing. The half of the class that was cooking made boxed macarroni and cheese, while the other half got to goof off. Inuyasha was glad he didn't have to cook today. He just wanted to sleep, but kept on getting interrupted by Sesshoumaru flirting with Kagome. _What is he doing this time? Why is he being all buddy -buddy friendly to Kagome?_

"Stop staring at me, Sesshoumaru, it's making me uncomfortable," Kagome said as she looked up from writing a note.

"I'm sorry Kagome, you just look really familiar to me. Inuyasha, who does she remind you of?"

Inuyasha looked at Kagome then Sesshoumaru, giving him a look that said "don't start", and shrugged his shoulders. "Dunno, don't care."

"Maybe it's her eyes. Inuyasha, do her eyes remind you of anybody? Like, oh gosh, what was her name? Didn't is start with a "K", too?"

Inuyasha ignored his older brother, leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms, and closed his eyes; hoping it was going to make Sesshoumaru disappear, but it didn't. Sesshoumaru went quiet for a second and for the first time since the class started the table was quiet. Kagome sat there uncomfortably between the two brothers with the urge to moisturize her lips. She tried to fight it, but her lip gloss was calling from the bottom of her purse. She started to apply the lip gloss on her lips, but stopped suddenly, looking at Sesshoumaru. "Is there a reason why you're staring at me again?" she asked with annoyance.

Sesshoumaru sniffed the air," That smell! It's very familiar." He looked at Inuyasha, whose ears only twitched.

"This is driving my crazy! Was it K…Ki…Ki…Kik…l don't remember! C'mon bro, you have to know!" Sesshoumaru said with a smile.

Inuyasha turned to face his brother with a glare as he popped his knuckles, but Sesshoumaru's smile just grew bigger. Kagome saw the anger in Inuyasha's eyes and had a sudden urge to scoot back her chair to get out of the way. Inuyasha leaned over towards Sesshoumaru and growled.

"What's wrong little brother?" Sesshoumaru asked laughing.

Inuyasha wanted to fight his brother, but was interrupted by a tap on the shoulder. He turned around and glared at Kagome. "WHAT?" he growled.

"Inuyasha, will you come with me to the football gym? I have to give these papers to Coach Hubbard," Kagome asked sweetly, showing him some papers.

"Why can't you go by yourself?" yelled Inuyasha.

Kagome frowned," I just want you to come with me, that's all."

Inuyasha stared at her with a glare, but sighed in defeat. All Inuyasha could do was stare at Kagome's sweet brown eyes. Her eyes gave a caring touch to her soft perfect face. It was something that he'd never seen before but only in his mother. _Why am I doing this?_ "Fine," he snapped.

The two went silently to the gym. Kagome, every once and a while, looked at Inuyasha, who by now had calmed down, but still had an eyebrow twitching. He would look at her with a hurt expression, but would quickly look away. _She reminds me of Kikyou._

Walking into the gym, Inuyasha's demon senses went wild. _Something doesn__'t smell right._ His ears were twitching as he sniffed around the gym. He stopped walking and stood in the middle of the basketball court and soon Kagome realized he had stopped walking beside her and stopped, too.

"It's only a couple more feet to Couch Hubbard's office."

Inuyasha looked up ahead towards the office and moved forward cautiously. Kagome looked at him as if he were crazy, but followed him anyways. _What is this all about. Inuyasha__'s acting kind of strange. I wonder what's wrong. _She reached out to knock on Hubbard's office door, but felt Inuyasha's strong hands around her wrist. He put a finger to his lips and whispered," Shh, listen."

Kagome raised an eyebrow. "What?" she whispered back.

"Shh, something doesn't smell right. I've smelled this scent before, but I can't remember where it came from." Inuyasha leaned closer towards the door as he still held onto her wrist. She watched his eyebrows furrow.

"Inuyasha, I don't hear anything."

"Duah, you're human. I can hear whispering inside the room, but I can't understand what they're talking about, but the smell is definitely demon," he said with a growl.

"Demon? Inuyasha, there are only three demons at this school, and all three of them hate Coach Hubbard. The only reason why they'd go near him is to probably kill him."

"Well, it doesn't sound like anyone is arguing in there." Inuyasha looked at the papers in Kagome's hands," Do you have to bring these to him now?"

"I guess I could say Coach Hubbard wasn't there if Ms. Lundien asks," Kagome shrugged.

"Good, 'cuz I have a bad feeling."

Inuyasha led the way out of the gym still holding onto Kagome's wrist. Once they got out of the gym he let go of her arm and stopped walking. Kagome stood nest to him and looked at him with concern.

"What's wrong Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha ignored her, walked over to the large tree that he was sitting under during lunch, and sat down. He sighed and closed his eyes in deep thought. Kagome walked over and sat down next to him. He tried to ignore her presence, but he could feel her eyes staring at him, the soft brown caring eyes.

"What are you doing?" he snapped.

Kagome jumped," Uh…I…was comforting?"

Inuyasha grunted," I don't need your comfort."

"Look, Inuyasha, obviously you're thinking about something."

"Nooo, really?" Inuyasha asked sarcastically.

Kagome became annoyed by his sarcasm and sighed with disgust," Hmph! All I'm saying is that I'm a really good listener. Maybe if you told someone what's going on you'd feel better."

Inuyasha crossed his arm stubbornly and looked away from her. "You wouldn't understand," he said hopelessly.

"I may not understand, but you can still tell me," Kagome mentioned sweetly with a smile.

Inuyasha got up quickly." You're just like Kikyou," he mumbled. Kagome sat there staring at him, wondering what he had just said. He looked at her with annoyance.

"WHAT? Stop looking at me! You're so annoying, you know that? I just want to be alone and I don't need your friendship. I can't stand you! I hate you," he spat out as he quenched his fists together in anger.

Kagome looked up at him as tears began to fall down her cheeks. She got up, looked at him with now sad eyes, and made her way back to the classroom. Inuyasha watched her walk away and immediately regretted saying such things, but his pride kept him from saying anything else. Before turning out of his sight, Kagome turned around to look at Inuyasha before she turned a corner, then she was gone.

"Who does she think she is? Well she definitely isn't Kikyou. I don't care what she thinks."

On her way to the classroom, Kagome mumbled to herself. She wasn't sad anymore, she was more angry than anything. _That jerk! What did I ever do to him. I just wanted to be his friend. __'I don't need your friendship'. What a loser! Maybe I don't WANT to be his friend._ Kagome sighed.

"That's not true, I really do want to be his friend."

She entered the classroom and looked at Sesshoumaru. When Kagome and Inuyasha were gone, Sesshoumaru grew deathly bored, and when he saw Kagome he couldn't help but perk up. He smiled at her when she sat down next to him. Ms. Lundien walked over to Kagome.

"Where's Inuyasha?" she asked.

"Oh, umm, Inuyasha…is…helping a teacher carry some…boxes to her car! Oh and Coach Hubbard wasn't in his office," she said as she handed Ms. Lundien the paper.

"Thank you, Kagome," and with that Ms. Lundien went back to teaching the other half of the class how to make boxed macaroni and cheese. Kagome sighed again. _I can__'t believe I defended that jerk! I should have said 'Oh, he's ditching class' I'm such a fool!_

"Figures," Sesshoumaru said in mock disgust," only a half demon would help a human.

Kagome looked at him in surprise," Huh?"

Sesshoumaru looked at Kagome," he's a half breed. Disgusting filth upon the Earth."

Kagome rolled her eyes," Tell me about it! He's not really helping a teacher, he's too much of a jerk to be nice. He ran off somewhere. I really don't know where he went, she said innocently. _Whoa, What am I doing? Why am I talking to Sesshoumaru?_

Sesshoumaru laughed," Ha! Inuyasha sure does attract the human species easily. I can tell you are attracted to him, aren't you?"

Kagome looked at Sesshoumaru's copper eyes with disgust and shock, " I do not! He's a jerk, he's rude, and he acts like he's better than everyone else!"

Sesshoumaru laughed again, obviously very amused by Kagome's discomfort, but said nothing. Kagome groaned and banged her head on the desk a few times, before resting her head on her arms. _I don__'t trust Sesshoumaru. I better keep an eye out for him. Something is obviously up, but what?_

In the middle of cheerleading practice, Kouga entered the gym to watch the girls practice. He stood against a wall smiling, staring at a certain young lady. Kagome noticed his presence in the building and became nervous. Ordering the girls to take a fifteen minute break, Kagome walked over towards Kouga.

"You know, unless you're thinking about becoming a cheerleader, you need to leave," she said as she took a drink from a water bottle.

Kouga laughed and put an arm around Kagome, putting his hands around her waist. Kagome grew stiff and shifted uncomfortably. "Ah, Kagome, you make me laugh," he said before he took a deep breath. He looked into her eyes and smiled.

"You know, I really like you," he said inching his mouth closer to hers.

Kagome blushed, wiggled out of his arms, and looked at her watch," Oh wow! Look at the time, Our break is up, so please leave."

Kouga looked at his watch and protested," But It's only been five minutes. You said a fifteen minute break. We still have ten minutes."

Kagome thought sarcastically,_ Oh wow, he can read time!_ "Well by my watch it says fifteen minutes are up and we really need to practice, so buh-bye," she said as she pushed him out the gym door.

Kouga looked at Kagome before she shut the door on him and said," I don't care if I have to kill every man or beast on this planet, because someday you will be mine, wo-man!" and with that he left.

Kagome watched him leave with disgust. _That guy is so disgusting. There is no way in Hell that I will ever be his __"wo-man"_ Kagome turned around and called the girls in for practice. She couldn't think straight and the more she practiced the more she couldn't concentrate. Giving up, she decided to cut practice short, telling the girls that they'd meet together again on Thursday. She gathered her stuff and walked towards her car and put the junk in the trunk. Making her way to the other gym were Sango was practicing, all she could think about was Sesshoumaru, but her thoughts quickly changed to Inuyasha.

_Why does he hate me? What did I ever do to him but be nice? It makes no since! Why does he keep comparing me to this Kikyou person. I wonder what happened to this Kikyou and Inuyasha that makes him so angry. I just want to be his friend. There's something about him that draws me to him. Is it because he's so mysterious?_

Kagome soon found herself thinking about Inuyasha's physical features and smiled. _He doesn__'t have THAT bad of a body. He definitely has some nice muscles. Oh and that red shirt looked so good on him. Wait a minute! What am I doing? Ugh! I need to stop fantasizing about him. He's a jerk! He hates me, remember?_

Kagome's thoughts were interrupted by a slap on the head. "Ouch!" she said as she rubbed her head and looked up.

"Hey, Loser! What are you doing sitting outside?"

"Waiting for you. I shortened practice today, so I've been out here waiting for you," Kagome said as she got up.

"And why did you shorten practice?" Sango asked as she pulled her gym bag over her shoulder.

Kagome sighed," A lot of things. I'll tell you in the car."

Sango put her stuff in Kagome's trunk to keep Kagome's cheerleading junk company, and soon they were off heading towards Sango's house.

Sango flipped down the visor and looked in the mirror applying lip gloss to her lips and said," We're in the car, so tell me!"

"For one, all of us had been working really hard, so I decided we should have a break I guess you could say, because on Thursday we're going to be working extra hard on the Homecoming dance."

There was a long silence as her best friend stared at her waiting for more explanations," Aaaand? You said you had a lot of reasons. What are the others?"

Kagome sighed," Okay, maybe I only had two reasons, but they feel like a lot. But the working hard one was the main reason."

"Uh huh, you still haven't told me the other reasons."

"Kouga."

Sango looked at her as if she were crazy," Kouga? What does he have to do with anything?"

"Halfway during practice he walked in and interrupted us. He was all like 'I like you and you'll be my wo-man even if I have to kill everyone' or something like that," Kagome said with frustration.

Sango started laughing." Aww, that's so cute! He likes you! Did he ask you out?" she squealed.

Kagome rolled her eyes," Not exactly."

Sango gasped and looked at her friend in horror and yelled in anger," Oh my GAWD! I knew it. You like Miroku!"

Kagome swerved around on the road at the accusation," What? Miroku? Honestly, Sango, why in the world would you think that? And if I did, then why are you so angry?"

"HA! I knew it!" Sango said pointing a finger in triumph," You do like Miroku! Why else would you give him your number, and why else would you go to his brother's part, AND why else would you two be talking so much?"

"Sango, you like Miroku, admit it!"

"I do not."

"Do to."

"No I don't, you do!" Sango said glaring at her best friend.

Kagome, without thinking let the truth come out," For your information, I do not like Miroku, he's just a friend. IlikeInuyasha."

The car went silent as Kagome drove one. Sango stared at her best friend in shock as Kagome grew nervous as she looked back at her friend.

"What did you say?" she asked in a whisper.

Kagome's mind raced, _What did I Say? Did I just say what I think I said? Did I say I liked Inuyasha? This can__'t be, I don't like him. _She looked over at Sango who was waiting for a reply.

" I don't know, what did I say?" asked Kagome innocently.

"You said you liked Inuyasha!"

"No I don't," she said tightening her grip on the steering wheel.

"Yes you do!"

"No I don't!" _Liar,_ she thought.

Sango sighed and laughed," We make an odd pair. I guess we both have a problem. We both can't admit who we like."

"HA! I knew it, you do like Miroku!" Kagome said this time pointing her finger at Sango.

"Shut-up, Kagome" Sango said sarcastically. Both girls looked at each other and started to laugh. Kagome dropped Sango off and told her they would talk later tonight. The rest of the ride home Kagome thought so hard she ran 2 stop signs.

Inuyasha sat on his bed and stared at a picture on his night stand. A tear began to fall down his face and he wiped it away. His attempts at stopping the tears became futile and soon he just let them all out. Minutes later a knock was heard on his door and a sweet voice asked," Inuyasha, are you in there?"

He stopped crying, wiped away his tears, and ran to his mirror. He frowned and answered," Yeah, I'm in here."

His mother opened the door and smiled. She walked over to Inuyasha's bed and sat down. She was beautiful and young. She had fallen in love with Inuyasha's father, got pregnant and her family had disowned her, causing her to take care of the half demon on her own. Ever since Inuyasha's birth demons have come after Inuyasha trying and almost succeeded in killing him. His mother and Inuyasha still have no idea why demons want him dead but suspect it has something to do with his father, but every attacked his father would come out of nowhere and protect them. Inuyasha could barely remember his father. His father would come ever once and and a while and stay for a couple of days before leaving. He remembered taking walks with his parents at night and having short bonding moments with his father, but unfortunately as quick as his father would appear his visits were rare and short.

Inuyasha went over to his desk and sat down. He stared at his mother who was smiling and looking at her hands as she twitted her thumbs. For a while the room was silent. Inuyasha watched his mother and saw a tear roll down her cheek. She looked up, still smiling, and looked into Inuyasha's golden eyes.

"We're close, right Inu?" she asked.

Inuyasha nodded in confusion," Of course, you're all I have left." She smiled and sighed.

"I've been thinking about your father a lot lately," she said as she stared blankly into space.

"Why?"

"As you very well know, he died when you were very young. You probably don't ever remember him, do you?"

"Not really, I remember some walks and I remember talking with him sometimes. I know Sesshoumaru blames me for his death, but I couldn't care less! Father never was around!"

Inuyasha's mother began to sob," Oh Inu…" she said as she embraced her son. She hugged him and just held onto him. Inuyasha, surprised by the hug jumped, but soon hugged her back.

"Oh Inuyasha I love you! You're the best thing that has ever happened to me!"

Inuyasha hugged tighter," I know, I love you, too."

She stopped hugging him and put him at arms length, wiped away her tears, and left his room. Inuyasha sat there thinking about what had just happened. _Wow, that was totally weird. I can__'t remember the last time we shared a moment like that, except when Kikyou…_

Inuyasha swallowed away the thought, put on his pajamas, and crawled into bed. He laid there in the dark thinking about the days events. He soon began to feel even more guilty about what he had said to Kagome. _Why did I say those aweful things? I don__'t really hate her, and actually her annoying qualities is what I kind of like about her. She's pretty , smart, nice, caring…_

He stopped in mid though and began to cry. _I can__'t like someone else! It's not fair! Oh Kikyou, I wish you were here right now! I want to feel you in my arms again. I'm so sorry that happened to you Kikyou! I could never all in love with someone else again!_

Inuyasha laid in bed thinking about Kikyou and the past as he cried himself to sleep.

* * *

**A/N: Doh! I forgot how long this chapter was. Thanks for reading, and please review! I'd love to hear what you have to say. Input is always good. **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: All Inuyasha characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi.**

**For Love and Power**

**by Ivaliny**

Chapter 3

* * *

After school on Thursday, Inuyasha waited outside the gym where the cheerleaders were practicing. He had felt bad after school that day because he was ignoring Kagome, which he could tell was making her sad. During 3rd hour, he had ignored her the most. In anger she had told him to forget about their project that night and threw a pencil at him.

Inuyasha looked at the scab from where the pencil nicked him with a sigh. He was going to wait for her after practice to apologize. _Ugh! I'm such a jerk! Why did I even ignore her in the first place? She didn't do anything to me. Maybe I feel guilty, by why should I feel guilty? I didn't do anything._

For the two hours that he waited, he paced back and forth trying to figure out what words to exactly say. Kouga walked up behind him," Hey puppy, what are you doing?"

Inuyasha growled and tightened his fists, "None of your business."

"Ha! Riiiiiight. Look, Inu-trasha, I've seen you looking at my wo-man and I don't like it."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes," I'm not looking at her so you can chill."

"I don't want to see you around her! She's mine!"

"Uh huh, sure. I doubt Kagome likes your type," Inuyasha said in a mock tone.

"What? How would you know what she likes? You've only known her for a week. I think I Know what my wo-man likes and she likes me, dog breath!"

Inuyasha started to get angry as his eyebrows twitched involuntarily. Just then a group of girls came rushing out of the gym bumping into the two guys. Kouga looked around for Kagome and spotted her. She was walking towards them.

"Hi, Kag-"he started to say with a smug smiled spread across his face.

"Inuyasha," she interrupted, not acknowledging Kouga's presence, "What are you doing here? I thought you were too busy ignoring me," she said, crossing her arms.

"Uh...,"he said looking dumb," I'm here...because...um, I don't know." _Crap! How can I forget what I was going to tell her?_ _Way to go, stupid! What happened_ to ' _Hey Kagome, I'm sorry about earlier,'_ he thought, mentally hitting his forehead.

"Kago-" Kouga said, but was interrupted again by Kagome.

"Oh, well do you need a ride home, or are you still going to ignore me?"

"How about we work on our projects,"Inuyasha mumbling, suggested.

Kouga stood in between Inuyasha and yelled, "There is NO way you're taking that half breed home! 'Oh, lets work on our project', how stupid can you get? Stay away from my woman!"

Inuyasha started to growl, at first it was a low growl, but it got louder and more fierce. Kouga then started poking Inuyasha and continued to yell and mock him. Kagome was behind Kouga hitting him and pleading for him to stop, but Kouga ignored her.

"Kouga! Stop it! He didn't do anything to you!"

"All you do is sigh and mope around you SISSY! Fight back!" Kouga spat. He started to shove Inuysaha around harder and harder, but Inuysha just clinched his teeth and closed his eyes, tightening every time he was shoved. Kouga shoved Inuyasha hard, pushing him to the ground. Kagome ran over to Inuyasha to help him up.

"Don't help that pathetic half-breed, FIGHT!"

"Inuyasha," Kagome pleaded," don't let Kouga push you around! He's a jerk!"

Inuyasha growled, brought back his fist, and punched Kouga in the face with so much force Kouga flew across the grass. He got back on his feet in lightening fast speed and charged for Inuyasha, who pushed Kagome out of the way, feeling the full grunt of Kouga's blow. They both fell to the ground wrestling with each other. Inuyasha punched Kouga in the stomach, got up, and walked away. Kouga rolled around on the ground for a second, growled in Inuyasha's direction and followed him. Inuyasha walked towards Kagome with a slight limp. She screamed as she watched Kouga charge towards Inuyasha again and punched him as hard as he could in his back. Inuyasha flew forwards and landed on top of Kagome.

Kagome opened her eyes and saw that Inuyasha was still on top of her, not moving. She scrambled out form under him and Kouga came towards her and picked up Inuyasha.

"Get away from my wo-man," he warned.

"Kouga stop it! Put him down!" screamed Kagome.

"Never!" Kouga growled in a low rumble. "You're never going to be seen around Kagome ever again!"

Inuyasha looked at Kouga, bobbing his head in a daze. A slight smile etched across his face, revealing sharp canine teeth, and without warning punched Kouga as hard as he could in his face. Kouga dropped Inuyasha with a thud, grabbing his face, moaning. Kagome grabbed Inuyasha's arm," C'mon, let's get out of here!"

Inuyasha resisted, but gave in anyways as they ran towards Kagome's car and drove out of the school parking lot. Inuyasha held his stomach and stared at Kagome.

"Do I need to take you to the hospital?"she asked with concern.

He shook his head,"No, It's only a few broken ribs, I'll be fine. I just need to lay down somewhere."

Kagome drove to her house and led Inuyasha to the kitchen. He sat down at the table and sighed.

"I've got some rubbing alcohol for your scrapes, let me go get some." She walked out of the kitchen in search for the bandages. Inuyasha looked around the kitchen and saw some food, immediately his stomach began to growl. Kagome returned with a handful of medical supplies. She walked over to Inuyasha and set the stuff down on the table and walked over to the freezer, grabbing a package of peas and a towel.

"Take off your shirt." Inuyasha obeyed, but couldn't get the shirt all the way off. Kagome pulled his shirt off and went wide-eyed. She stared at his muscular chest in awe. He watched her and rolled his eyes,"What? Haven't you ever seen a bare chest before?"

Kagome blushed and went on cleaning his scratches and cuts. "This might hurt a little," she dabbed his wounds with the alcohol. Inuyasha winced, but said nothing. She applied the bandages to the smaller scrapes.

"Kouga's an idiot! I don't like him at all, but no, accourding to him, I'm his 'wo-man',"she said with disgust. "But I think you hurt him worse than he did you," she stated with a smile.

"Can you hand me those peas? I'm gonna put them to my chest."

She handed him the peas. "Do you have something to tie around my chest?"

"Would old sheets work?" she asked as he nodded. "Okay, then lets get you up to my room where it's more comfortable."

Kagome helped Inuyasha up to her room and made him lay on her bed. She made sure he was comfortable before she left to go look for the old sheets. Inuyasha looked around her room. His eyes focusing on everything. On a wall there were pictures of friends and family, most of them were of Sango, but a picture that caught most of his attention was a picture of a man holding Kagome when she was younger. _It must be her father_, he thought. Inuyasha sighed and closed his eyes. _Why is Kagome being so nice to me, even though I was so rude and a complete jerk to her?_ His mind switched gears as he moved his hand across her satin sheets, sniffing her scent. _Why do I feel so...so, at home here? For the first time since Kikyou, I feel like I can trust someone._

Kagome returned with some old sheets and a pair of scissors. She sat down on the bed next to Inuyasha. She smiled at him and for the first time since they'd met, he smiled back. She started to cut up the sheet, and wrapped his chest. She looked over at Inuyasha who was staring at her. She blushed and looked over at her nightstand, noticing the time and frowned. _He probably want to go home now_, she thought.

"Are you hungry?"she asked.

"Yeah, I think I am."

"Okay,"she said, getting up. "I'll go make us some food."

He smiled again,"Thank you, Kagome."

She walked down to the kitchen and started to make fettuccine alfredo. _He's being nice to me! He even smiled, what's up with that? _She sighed,_ Oh well, it doesn't matter why he did it, what matters is that I liked it!_ She smiled at the thought that their friendship was really happening.

Suddenly someone snuck up behind and hugged her. She screamed and looked around to see who did it. She gasped in horror as her jaw dropped.

"Daddy?"

Inuyasha's ears twitched when he heard Kagome scream. "What the crap?" He got up from her bed, "Aaah! That was stupid!" He doubled over in pain and crawled back into her bed. He closed his eyes smelling the food from the kitchen, but opened them quickly. He sniffed the air and sat up. _That smell, I've smelt it before, but where? _"There's another scent, and I don't like it at all," he whispered to himself."

"Death."

Kagome stared at the man infront of her. The man smiled and said,"Oh, Kagome! I've missed you so much! Where's Mom and Souta?" The man looked around the kitchen with joy. Kagome just stared at him with astonishment. _Daddy? I thought you were dead. Am I dreaming this? This can't be real, my father is dead!_

"Daddy? I thought you were dead!" Kagome said, backing away from the man.

The man laughed gently," Oh my precious, sweet, blossom. I wasn't dead...I was...sleeping. Yes, I was sleeping." He moved towards Kagome, pulling her into an embrace. She felt his strong shoulders then his back.

"Daddy!" she howled, bawling on his shoulder. "It's really you!"

Kagome and her father sat down at the kitchen table. She stared at him and smiled. "I can't believe it's really you! I've missed you so much."

"Tell me Kagome, how is your mother?"

"Oh...well, Mom's just great! We've been pretty well. She's wonderful, but I know she misses you a lot." The man smiled and sighed.

Just then Inuyasha came into the kitchen holding his side. "Kagome! Get away from him! Now!"

Kagome looked over and Inuyasha in surprise,"Why?"

"Because that man is a rotting, decaying jumble of dead flesh! Don't ask questions, just come over here," he said getting ready to fight, ignoring the sharp pains screaming from his side.

"No!" Kagome screamed, "He's my Daddy! I'm not leaving him again!"

"Inuyasha," said the man with a grin. "I've been looking for you!" He pulled out a sword.

Kagome's draw dropped. "What? Daddy what are you doing? You know Inuyasha?"

"Just get behind me, Kagome! Let me protect you!" he yelled charging towards the man.

"Iron Reaver Soul Stealer!" he yelled, thrusting his arm into the man.

"Inuyasha, where's the Jewel of Augapfel?"yelled the man, staggering forward with his sword still in hand. The man fell to the ground, struggling to get up. Inuyasha kicked the man in the head and said, " How the hell do I know? I don't even know what it is!"

Kagome gasped, " The Jewel of Augapfel!"

The man got up and lunged towards Inuyasha, stabbing him in the arm, tearing away flesh and nicking the bone. Inuyasha grabbed his arm and growled. "Why do you want the Jewel?" Inuyasha ran towards the man, and before the man could stab him, Inuyasha grabbed the sword, and with one swoop of the sword, the man's head dropped to the ground and rolled around.

Kagome watched in horror as the head of her father bounced about. "Inuyasha, you killed my father!"

Inuyasha took Kagome's hand tightly in his and looked into her eyes," He was already dead, see? No blood." He pointed at the clean head.

Kagome calmed down and began to cry," Oh, Inuyasha!" She stood sobbing as he wrapped his arm around her, comfortingly. After a few moments she felt something warm and wet dripping on her skin and she gasped.

"You're bleeding!"

He looked at his arm and shrugged," I've had worse. C'mon Kagome, we have to find out who was behind this! I have an idea and it points to Sesshoumru, but what I don't get is why you're involved."

Kagome looked down at her feet. " I don't know." She noticed the mess of body parts strewn about on the floor and gasped. "My mom's gonna kill me if she finds this mess! We have to clean this up before she comes home!"

Inuyasha sighed with annoyance but helped Kagome clean up the kitchen anyways. Once they cleaned up the kitchen and disposed of the body, Kagome put the untouched fettuccine alfredo in the fridge with a sigh.

"So, what were we going to do again?" asked Kagome.

"Find Sesshoumaru and kill him!" Inuyasha said pounding his fist on the table.

"Are you sure it was him?"

"It has to be him! His scent was all over that dead man! Well I think it was his scent," he said with a frown. "Well he came by my house on Monday night, and I think he was looking for something, but he didn't say. What if it's this Augap...whatever jewel that he is looking for."

"That would explain why the man wanted to know the location of the Jewel."

Inuyasha nodded. "Yeah, what do you know about the Jewel, Kagome?"

Kagome put her hands on her hips and glared at him, " I told you what I knew on Tuesday! But NO, you weren't listening to me, where you? Remember, that's what our project is over!"

"Oh, I knew it was some Jewel thing. Let's go! We need to find out as much information as we can!" Inuyasha said, getting up and heading towards the door.

"Inuyasha wait! We can't go to the library now, it's closed. We'll have to wait until tomorrow. Besides you're hurt."

Inuyasha touched his side and sighed. "I guess so." He walked back towards the table and sad down, sighed, and rested his head on his good arm.

" I don't know what to think. I'm so confused."

Kagome looked at him with concern," You know, I can take you home whenever you feel like it."

Inuyasha looked up at the kitchen clock. "Oh yeah, I forgot." His stomach began to grumble. "But I'm kind of hungry."

Kagome smiled, "Okay!" She took out the fettuccine alfredo and heated it up. She made a plate for Inuyasha and one for her self.

"I think I'm gonna go watch TV, wanna join me?" she asked holding both plates.

He looked at her, then the food, then the living room. _Ugh, you fool! Don't do it! Think of your love for Kikyou. Don't let anyone come between that love! It can be nothing but trouble, just go home and get away from her._ She gave him a sweet smile and looked into his eyes. For a second all of this thoughts were erased and he followed her into the living room.

Kagome woke up and stared at the TV. CSI:Crime Scene Investigaion was on as she tried to wake up, rubbing her eyes of sleep, and wondering where she was. She looked down in her lap and saw a sleeping Inuyasha. She gasped silently and looked at the clock. _Oh no! Only thirty minutes before Mom and Souta get home!_

She held her breath and wriggled herself free from under the sleeping Inuyasha without waking him. She went up to her room and grabbed his shirt and her keys. Walking back over to Inuyasha on the couch, she tripped over something and fell flat on her face. She mumbled a curse and stood back up.

"Inuyasha, wake-up," she said in a whisper, shaking gently. "C'mon, I'm gonna take you home."

Inuyasha woke up to see Kagome's face in his and began to spaz, falling off the couch."What? Huh? Where am I?" he stated in a panic, looking around the room.

Kagome giggled, " I'm going to take you home. My mom wil lbe home soon." she said tossing him his shirt.

Confused by his sleepy stupor, he put the shirt on without complaint with the help of Kagome. He followed her out to her car and got in. He sighed and rested his head on the back of the seat.

"What are you thinking about?"she asked, pulling out of the driveway.

"Huh?" he asked still a little confused, but looked down with his reply. "Oh, well I just did soemthing I never thought I would ever do since...nevermind, I don't want to talk about it."

Kagome learned from the first time not to keep proding, so she said nothing more. The rest of the car ride was quiet. Kagome ran the events of the day through her mind, thinking about the fight Inuyasha had with Kouga and remembered when Inuyasha had pushed her out of the way to protect her. She remembered the way Inuyasha's chest heaved up and down when was putting the rubbing alcohol on his wounds. Her thoughts soon drifted towards the Jewel. _Was that man really my father, a zombie version of my father, and how is Inuyasha involved with the Jewel?"_

"Inuyasha?"

"Huh?"

"If you want, tomorrow after school we can go to the library."

"Yeah, let's do that," he replied, staring blankly out the window.

_Gah! I want to know what he's thinking_, she thought. "Umm, Inuyasha?"

"Yeah?" he said looking towards her.

"Well, umm, see my friend Miroku-"

"The pervert?"

Kagome smiled," Yeah, him. Well his brother is having a party on Saturday night, and well, I was wondering if you would like to go with me."

Inuyasha looked at her in shock. "A party?" _No one has ever invited me to a party before, _but his thoughts soon grew serious and he grunted, "No, I don't go to parties."

"Oh," Kagome said with disappointment.

_I really want to go, Kagome, but I can't_, he thought. _I'm not ready. My heart hasn't healed! I still love Kikyou, but am I a fool to still love her, and not go with you?_

Inuyasha told her the way to get to his house and Kagome helped him out of the car and walked up the steps to the huge mansion when they arrived. Kagome was awestruck by the pure magnificence of the place. She never would have guessed that he would live in a place like this and looked around at the beauty. He opened the door and walked down tot he main living room with Kagome following closely behind. His mother was sitting in a recliner chair reading a magazine under the live of a lamp. She looked up from her magazine at Inuyasha.

"Inuyasha!" she said getting up. Inuyasha blushed. " Oh where have you been? I was so worried!" she hugged him and Inuyasha cried out in pain.

"What's wrong, hunny?" his mom asked with concern.

"It's nothing, just got into some fights today. I'll be fine tomorrow."

His mom smiled and gave a knowing nod."I know." She looked from her son to the young girl standing next to him. "Who's she?" she asked in a sweet motherly tone.

Inuyasha looked at Kagome," This is my...friend, Kagome." Kagome smiled and said 'Hi'.

Kagome soon left and headed back home. "Friend? Did he just call me his friend?" She smiled the rest of the way home. She thought about their adventure today again, and she had to admit she did have fun spending time with him. He was certainly strange and mysterious, but amazing nevertheless. Just how he sliced through that guy with one swipe of his hand. But a thought occurred to her,_ If he can fight so easily, then why didn't he use any of his moves on Kouga._

When she arrived home, her mother greeted her with a hug, " Where were you?"

"Oh, I was over at a friend's for a research project."

Her mother smiled,"That's nice. Which friend is that?"

Kagome set her keys one the kitchen table,"Oh, this new kid, Inuyasha. We're researching the Jewel of Augapfel for History."

"Oh, that's got to be interesting," her mother said with a wink. Kagome rolled her eyes. "Mooooom!"

"Well you know someone who knows A LOT about the Jewel of Augapfel is-"

"Oh no! Not Grampa!"

Her mom laughed,"Of course! He eat, lives, and breathes that sort of stuff. You should call him up."

Kagome groaned. Grampa always got on her nerves. He says everything has history. Grampa would definately know about the Jewel, that's actually where Kagome heard about it, from Grampa. "Okay, I'll call him this weekend," she said with a slight whine as she walked towards her room, tripping over something.

"Ugh! I tripped over that earlier. What is it!"

Her mother picked up the object and examined it. "Looks like a little box." It was a little box with ancient looking writings all over made out of wood. Kagome took it away from her mother and examined it herself. "Looks like something Grampa collects, I guess he must have left this here."

"Maybe instead of calling Grampa, you should visit him and see what that box is."

Kagome yawned," Okay." She kissed her mother goodnight, got ready for bed, and climbed in bed, stepping on a bag of now mushy peas. She smiled and sighed, _Inuyasha was laying her without a shirt on!_ She giggled at the thought of him topless. _There's one think for sure, he does have a sexy bod!_ She began to think about his cute ears and once again couldn't help but giggle. _Wow_, she thought,_ I think I'm falling for Inuyasha. Almost like head over heals. _And with that she fell asleep.

The next day after school, Inuyasha and Kagome went over to the library to find information on the Jewel of Augapfel. They found that there was a lot of information but it said different things in each article or encyclopedia.

"This makes it sound like the Jewel was never real! All of these articles say different things about the origin of the Jewel. It's like it was all made up," sighed Kagome.

"Yeah, but then why would someone out there want it if that were true?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, when I was little, I remember being attacked by various demons wanting the Jewel."

"So you already know of the Jewel?"

"No, not really. I don't even know if they were looking for the same jewel, but I'm thinking it has to be the Jewel of Augapfel they were looking for. I mean what other jewel in the world has enough power to slay ten-thousand demons?" Inuyasha said, reading through a book.

"I don't know what believe. I'm kind of questioning the Jewel."

"I say we take a break from this jewel thing and get of this moldy library," Inuyasha said wrinkling his nose.

Kagome smiled. _Awww, he looks so cute! _"Okay! What do you want to do then?"

"Go home."

"Home?" Kagome asked in shock and a little dissapointed.

"Yeah, I need to...do stuff," Inuyasha said suspiciously.

"I guess I'll take you home," she said with a slight frown.

"Thanks."

Kagome looked through her purse trying to find her keys, but brushed up against something. She pulled it out of her purse and looked at it.

"Oh! I forgot! I was going to show this box to my Grampa, 'cuz he's into this weird stuff."

Inuyasha took in a breath and grabbed the box away from her. He examined it and stared at in awa. "Where did you get this?" he asked impatiently, sticking it into her face.

"Hey! Give me that!" Kagome said trying to take it back from him. "I don't know, I tripped over it last night at my house."

"Wow! I haven't seen this in years!"

"Seen what?" Kagome asked still trying to get the box back.

"On one of my visits with my father, he gave me this box!"

"Are you sure?" she asked

"Yes! I'm positive! I remember on the day he gave it to me, one of the demons attacked me and tole this box from me and I haven't seen it since. It's the only thing my father ever gave to me," he said staring at it as if he were reliving the day in his mind.

"What is it?"

Inuyasha shrugged," I don't know, I didn't even have a change to look at it. I only had it for a few minutes, but for those few minutes, this box was the most precious gift anyone could have given to me."

They both walked towards her car and got in.

"Why don't you open it now," asked Kagome pulling out of the parking lot.

"I guess I could," Inuyasha said sturning the tiny box over in his hands. The box gave off a shiny, shimmery light, but it was made out of a dark wood, shut with a gold latch. He had never seen a latch like this before. He frowned and said,"I think it's locked." He growled and threw the box to the car floor.

Kagome looked at him with surprise," Inuyasha! Calm down! We'll find a way to open it. Maybe my Grampa knows how to open it."

He sighed," Okay, fine, let's go see your Gramps." He picked up the box and examined the latch again. He tried to lift it up, but it would not budge. He tried it again and it still would not move. He kept trying and trying the whole way to Grampa's.

Kagome knocked on the shrine door where her Grampa lived. Inuyasha looked around the shrine and received a cold chill.

"What are those things hanging from the trees?"

"I don't know, some kind of mummified beast," she replied with a shrug. Inuyasha wrinkled his nose.

The front door to the shrine opened up and a short, wrinkly, old man stood at the doorway. "Ah, Kagome! I was just about to leave and come see your mother. I left something at your hose the last time I visited."

"We actually came by so you can look at something of ours and to find out as much information about the Jewel of Augapfel."

Grampa's eyes widened and he stared at Kagome in shock," Why Kagome, you've never been interested in this kind of stuff before!"

"Yeah, well, it's important, because,"Kagome shifted from one foot to another in a nervous mess._ Should I tell Grampa or not? _Kagome looked at Grampa, who was waiting for her to finish her sentence, and then looked over at Inuyasha.

"Um, hold on a second," Kagome said, grabbing Inuyasha's arm and pulling him aside.

"What was that for!" Inuyasha yelled.

Kagome looked over at Grampa and smiled nervously," Should we tell Grampa about my dad, well the body of my dad, and the Jewel?"

"Sure, why not,"he shrugged. "He could probably tell us a lot more if he knew the situation." Kagome nodded in agreement.

The two walked back over to Grampa, and Kagome finished her sentence. "As I was saying, it's important that we know this stuff, because it kind of affects me, but mostly Inuyasha." She looked over at her male companion.

Grampa rubbed his chin then looked over at Inuyasha, checking him over and stared at Inuyasha's twitching ears. "Well, come in and sit down," he said, turning around to walk back inside.

Inside, it was dark and cold with an eerie feel that sent chills up Kagome and Inuyasha's spines. All around there were ancient relics, mummified bodies and body parts, old books, and jars filled with gook. Kagome sat sown on a dusty couch in the living room, while Inuyasha did the same. She looked over at thim through the corner of her eyes. He was sniffing the air picking up scents.

Kagome leaned towards him and whispered," I hate this place. It's always so creepy." Inuyasha stared at her and said nothing.

Grampa sat down in an old chair opposite the couch, closing his eyes, and did not move. They all sat in silence for a short period of time. Inuyasha looked at Grampa and then shifted nervously. _What is he doing?_ Inuyasha thought. He looked at a clock hanging above Grampa, growing even more nervous. _Dangit! It's almost 6:30!_

Grampa opened his eyes and stared at the two teenagers, sizing up Inuyasha, which cause Inuyasha to become irritated.

"It's a new moon tonight," Grampa stated casually.

Inuyasha fell off the couch in surprise. "What!" _Does he know, _though Inuyasha. He climbed back onto the couch and looked at Kagome, ears twitching with irritation. She looked at him with a confused look as he grunted and crossed his arms looking away from the both of them.

"Anways, onto business," Kagome said, trying to get past the awkward moment.

"Yes, what can I do for you?"

"Last night, this will sound really weird, but last night when Inuyasha was over at my house, I was making fettuccine alfredo when someone walked up behind me and surprised me. When I turned around to see who it was, there was a man that looked exactly like Daddy!" Grampa looked at Kagome with a non judgmental expression.

"Well at first I thought I was imagining it, but the man...I thought he was really Daddy! I even touched him. He was solid and real. I mean it looked like he was never dead at all! Then Inuyasha came in and was all like 'Get away from him! He's dead' and I'm like 'What?'. Then the man said in this macho voice,' Inuyasha, where's the Jewel of Augapfel?' and Inuyasha was all like ' I don't know' and killed the man! Then later that night I tripped over a box, and yeah, that's it."

Grampa and Inuyasha stared at Kagome in disbelief. "What? That's the end of the story! Stop staring at me!"

"Why did you add the 'tripping over the box' thing?" asked Grampa.

Kagome blanked for a second then gave a spastic response, " Oh yeah! Inuyasha show him!"

"Show him what?" Inuyasha asked with a grumble.

"The box!"

"Oh," he pulled out the box and started to say, " My father gave this to me when I was-"

"Hey! That's mine!" yelled Grampa, jumping out of his chair. Inuyasha clutched the box protectively.

"No it's not! It's mine! My father gave this to me!"

Grampa dived for the box, but missed,"No! It's mine! That's what I left at Kagome's. Mushin sold this to me, so it's rightfully mine."

The two tugged and pulled on the box like two year olds. Kagome watched the struggle with disgust and rolled her eyes. She folded her arms and sighed. Grampa fianlly got the box and stood up in triumph.

"AH HA! I've got it!" he said raising the box towards the ceiling.

Inuyasha growled," Not for long you old geezer!" Inuyasha scrambled up and charged for the old man. Grampa screamed like a girl, running behind the couch. Inuyasha grabbed the box.

"Noooooo!" Screamed Grampa.

Inuyasha started to laugh maniacally, clutching box tightly with all he had. Kagome rolled her eyes again and yelled,"Okay you two, calm down! Grampa just let Inuyasha have the box!"

"If it's what I think it is, then I think someone with demon blood could ruin it, so they shouldn't have it," he said sitting back down in his chair.

"What? What does that have to do with anything?" growled Inuyasha.

Grampa looked at Kagome nervously and then Inuyasha. Kagome raised and eyebrow in anticipation towards her grandfather.

"I only said that because I just really wanted it, but you can keep it,"Grampa said, fearful of Inuyasha's glare.

Inuyasha gave a smug smile," Good!" He crossed his arms with a grunt and looked away from both of Grampa and Kagome's blank stares.

"Do you know anything this box?"

"No..."

"Then tell us all that you can about the Jewel of Augapfel, and why that man asked Inuyasha where it's located."

"Well I don't know why the man asked Inuyasha, and I really don't know why that man came to you, Kagome, posing as your father."

Inuyasha interrupted," But I've seen this sort of thing happen before. I've had dead people come back to life and attack me, but I don't know why that man went for Kagome either, but I know I've smelt the same smell lingering on those dead people that attacked me when I was younger." Inuyasha paused," And now that I think about it, they all were wondering where the Jewel was."

"That's quite interesting," Grampa said touching his chin.

Inuyasha shrugged," I'm used to people attacking me, it's happened ever since I could remember. Everytime I had to learn to defend myself." Inuyasha stopped talking, realizing he had probably said too much.

"Inuyasha, why would they attack you?" Kagome asked with concern.

"How the heck should I know?"

"Well, the Jewel is supposedly the most powerful weapon ever created. I think it was created during the Seele War between the humans and demons. Like I said before, I know very little about the Jewel, and I wish I knew more, but if a demon got a hold of the Jewel, humankind will be destroyed."

"Psh. Who cares," Inuyasha whispered to himself.

"But I think I've heard somewhere that if half demons get a hold of the Jewel, they could either become full human or full demon."

Inuyasha's ear twitched a little but his expression did not change. "So."

Grampa shrugged. "Just saying."

Kagome sighed," Well you didn't help us at all, that thanks anyways Grampa. Let's go Inuyasha, I'll take you home. It's almost dark and I promised mom I'd clean the garage." Her garage was used as a storage facillity for their junk, so she had promised to clean and organize it in order to go to Miroku's brother's party on Saturday night.

Inuyasha stepped outside and looked towards the sun, frowning he got in the car. _The sun is setting. I need to get home now!_

"Well that was a BIG waste of time," Inuyasha grumbled angrily.

Kagome nodded," I know, Im sorry. Do you want to come over, or do you still have stuff to do?"

"Take me home," he said quickly and bluntly with an edge of irritation in his voice.

Kagome got home after dropping off Inuyasha and looked at the clock with a frown. _It's almost 8, and I don't have much time to clean the garage! _She listened to the messages on the answering machine before changing into work clothes.

"Hey, Kagome, it's me Miroku. Call me when you get this message. Have a nice night!"

Kagome laughed, _Miroku is so goofy._ She ran to her room, rummaging about for Miroku's number. She finally found it in a pair of jeans and walked over to the phone then dialed his number. The phone ran once and someone picked up the phone.

"Hello," a person on the other line said.

"Hello, is Miroku there?" Kagome asked nervously.

"Ah! Dearest Kagome, how are you!" Miroku asked.

"Tired, and I have to clean out the garage so I can go to your brother's party."

"I could come over help if you'd like."

"Really?" Kagome chirped.

"Yeah! I shall be over in a few minutes."

Kagome hung up the phone and went into the garage with a sigh. _This is going to take a while. Why do I have all of this junk anywyas! _One word came to her mind. _Grampa! _Kagome groaned and started to clean, _I hope Miroku gets here fast!_ She began to make a throw-away, keep, and give-away piles, and began to pout.

"Mirokuuuu! Get here fast!" she whined. _I want to go to your party! Hurry!_

Just then there was a knock on her front door, and she ran as fast she could, tripping over her cat Buyou. The cat let out a spat and a hiss.

"Buyou! I'm sorry!" she said still running towards the door. She slid,opening the door, jumping past the welcome mat, flinging her arms around Miroku as he fell backwards, catching himself by putting his arms around her waist.

"Yay! You're here!" she said jumping up and down, leading him inside towards the garage, ignoring his shocked, perverted remarks.

"Why Kagome! I wasn't expecting this! I hope your bed is comfy. I prefer silk,it's so much fun to just slide around on. Oh that would be so much fun! And then after we slide around on the sheets...but I didn't bring any-"

He looked at Kagome and realized they had stopped moving. Kagome looked at him in shock,"Um, yeah, anywho! Let's get crackin'!" Kagome said.

Miroku contemplated it for a second,"I've never done that, but I'm sure I'd be more than happy to do it. Although physical-"

"Miroku!" she said, trying to distract his perverted thoughts," help me with the boxes!"

"Oh," Miroku went over to the boxes and looked inside and frowned. "You don't need my help, these boxes are already empty."

Kagome walked over to the boxes and rolled her eyes." I've already cleaned out these boxes, just go over there and look through them and think 'If these were my boxes of junk, what would I keep?' Okay?"

Miroku gave her a wink," Gotcha!" and started to unpack the boxes. They both worked as hard as they could and as long as they could until everything was done, and Miroku put the "trash" stuff outside to Kagome's trashbin.

"We did it! A job well done," Miroku said putting an arm around Kagome's shoulder, admiring the work they had done.

She smiled and laughed," Thank you so much Miroku! Now I can go to the party. I'm so excited!"

"Really?" asked Miroku sitting down with a sigh on her couch.

"Yeah, why?"

He shook his head,"Oh no reason, I just wasn't expecting you to be excited. Is Sango going?"

"Umm...yeah!" Kagome said smiling. _Atleast she will after I kidnap her and drag her there no matter what._

"Oh, that's wonderful!" Miroku said as his eyes shone with happiness.

"Well if you're planning on having Sango fall madly in love with you, you may want to keep your hands away, If you know what I mean," she joked.

"Yeah, that's why I need you to check on me, if I start anything slap me!"

Kagome laughed," Okay! With pleasure!"

"Are you planning on having someone fall head over heals for you, tomorrow" Miroku asked, keeping someone in mind.

"Huh?"

"I've seen how you've looked at Inuyasha, and today you were practically all over him at school."

Kagome gasped," I was not, and don't like Inuyasha like that!"

"Aaah," Miroku said," I see you just want him in bed. Perfectly understandable. He's a troubled youth with big muscles and no brain. If I was a girl I'd be all over him, too." He got up from the couch, walked towards the kitchen and poured himself some lemonade. Kagome stared at him in disgust.

" I do not want him bed! I'm not attracted to him. Honestly, I'm not!"

He sat back down and took a sip of the cold lemonade," Oh, I'm sorry dear Kagome." He then decided to change the subject.

"Is he coming to the party, though?"

"No, he's not coming," she said sadly, looking at her hand, twittling her thumbs with a sigh.

"Why not, and why are you saddened by this?"

"I don't know why he's not coming. I asked him on Thursday night when I was taking him home after an eventful night, and he said 'no'! I thought we were becoming friends. I just wish he'd come."

He thought for a while and looked at Kaogme," Well...from what I could tell from today, you two looked like friends."

"For real?" she asked, hope sparkling in her eyes.

"Yes, you two were over there in history talking about the Jewel and Inuyasha looked like he liked talking to you. He usually doesn't. So what happened last night? On Wednesday he acted like he hated you."

"Nothing happened last night," Kagome said with a sigh.

"Ah, Okay then," Miroku put his arm around Kagome's shoulder," but don't worry, Kagome, you and Inuyasha will be friends, and who knows, he might even be at the party tomorrow. He might change his mind."

Kagome looked at him suspiciously. _What is he planning?_

Miroku looked at his watch and sighed, " Well as much as I want to stay and chat more, I must be going. I'll see you and Sango tomorrow , and hopefully Inuyasha," he said with a wink.

Soon Miroku was driving down her driveway and Kagome went back into the living room. She sat on the couch and thought about yesterday. _Why was my dead father after Inuyasha, and who wants to kill him and take the Jewel?_ She grabbed a pillow, hugged it, and sighed. _My life has gotten so complicated. _Then a though crossed her mind._Grampa!_

"He's lying, Grampa knows more about the Jewel and that box."

* * *

**A/N: Ah, Chapter 3! I hope you all liked it. What is that mischievous Miroku planning! What will he do? You'll have to find out in Chapter 4. Hopefully, I'll have that typed up as soon as possible. Thanks for reading, and remember to review! I love hearing what you all have to say. Much love!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: All Inuyasha characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi.**

* * *

**For Love and Power**

**by Ivaliny**

Chapter 4

Miroku turned on his cell phone and dialed a number. The night was clear, and the moon was black. Stars were twinkling overhead as Miroku drove downtown. He stopped at a stop sign and looked through his window. A young couple were walking down the lit up sidewalk, his arm around her waist, and hers down his pants. Miroku smiled and laughed. _Now that's the way to do it_, he thought. Just then, someone picked up on the other end of the line.

"Hi, Mom, I'm gonna be a little late coming home. I have something to do first."

"I don't care, just don't do drugs," said the voice on the other line.

To any other person they would have thought that she was crazy. Miroku said good-bye and hung up. He started to dial another number, and talked for a while.

"Thank you for the information," Miroku said before hanging up. He turned off his phone and made a u-turn on the ghost like streets.

"This town is dead by 10 o'clock!," he commented out loud at empty streets. He drove as fast as he could and soon found himself on the busier part of town. The north side at night was like it never slept. Something was always happening. He turned left on a street that had a gas station at the corner. There were houses all along and soon the farther he went down the street, the houses got fewer and fewer and fewer. He noticed that he was driving into the forest outside of town.

"Eesh, it's creepy out here at night! Who knows what kind of demons are lurking behind the trees in the shadows," he told himself, shivering at the thought. His purple truck turned onto another roade and then into a driveway. The driveway was long and curvy and in the distance he could barely see a house. He got closer and closer as the large mansion came into view.

"Looks like a haunted castle," he stated quietly to himself, in awe of the granduer of the house. He drove up in front of the house and turned of his truck. He sighed and gout out, walking towards the front steps, stopping at the large door.

Examing the front of the house he frowned,"Not exactly what I'd call home." He rang the doorbell and waited.

A woman answered it sweetly,"Yes, how may I help you?"

"I'm looking for Inuyasha," he said.

The woman looked behind her towards a large staircase and quickly answered,"He's not here."

Miroku sighed and looked at the ground. Something above him caught the corner of his eyes as the door in front of him slammed shut. He looked up towards a row of windows on what looked to be the third floor, squinting, thinking he would see better in the moonless night. In the window above Miroku, he saw someone staring at him with golden eyes. The figure in the window quickly closed the curtains and Miroku jumped at the sight. _Ha! He is here! I knew it!_

Miroku rang the doorbell again and waited a second time. The same woman opened the doors and rolled her eyes. She sighed with frustration,"He isn't here. Now please go away!" The woman pointed down the driveway as if to show him the way out.

"Ma'am, please, I just want to talk to him and it wont even be for that long. Just please let me talk to Inuyasha."

Suddenly a figure wrapped up in a blanket stood behind the woman. Miroku looked at the figure and saw nothing, because the figure had a blanketed arm in front of his face as if to hide something.

"Let him in, he's that perverted guy from school." Miroku frowned at the figure, who just looked at him with golden eyes underneath the shadows of the blanket, and led Miroku up the stairway. Miroku started to smile as he followed the blanketed figure down a hallways and up more stairs. The more he walked the harder it was for him to not laugh. He suddenly started to snicker. They went into a dark room, and the figure closed the door behind him.

Miroku doubled over laughing,"Ha! Let me guess...pimple?"

The figure moved towards Miroku and growled,"If only-"

"Wait! Wait! Did you run into a wall?" Miroku grabbed his sides, laughing even harder.

The blanketed man became irritated, picked up a pillow and threw it at Miroku,"Shut up, stupid!"

Miroku's laughs because fewer and fewer as he sighed heavily and took a deep breath,"Okay, seriously, what's up with the blanket, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha ignored Miroku and asked his own question,"What do you want, and why did you come here?"

Miroku raised an eyebrow and looked at Inuyasha curiously,"What's with the blanket?"

"Why are you here?"

"Blanket!"

Inuyasha raised his voice,"_Why_ are you here, Miroku?"

Miroku raised his voice, mocking Inuyasha,"_Why_ are you wearing a blanket, Inuyasha?"

"Forget about the blanket, stupid, and answer my question!"

"My, touchy touchy. No need for yelling Inuyasha. I only came to..." Miroku leaped forward, lounging at Inuyasha and pulled off the blanket,"...ask why you're not going to the..."

Miroku stood in shock at Inuyasha, mouth agape as Inuyasha glared at Miroku with teeth clinched, growling.

"What? Stop staring y-"

Miroku gasped,"What happened to your hair, and where are you ears?!" He walked towards Inuyasha curiously, and Inuyasha backed away.

"Did you dye it? It makes you look human," Miroku said, stiffling his giggles.

"Great! I've always wanted to look human!" Inuyasha yelled sarcastically. "You stupid, I am _human_!" he snapped. Miroku stopped laughing,"But I thought you were a half demon."

"I am," glared Inuyasha.

The room was silent until Miroku interrupted it,"Can we turn on a light?"

"No!"he snapped.

"Oh, c'mon! I've already seen you, what would light do? Melt you? C'mon What would it hurt?" Miroku asked persuasively.

Inuyasha growled and got up, turning on a lamp and sat down on his bed. "Better?" he asked sarcastically.

"Much, thank you!" he said, sitting quietly looking around Inuyasha's large room in awe while Inuyasha's now grayish blue eyes stared back at him. Minutes passed and Miroku could feel his icy glare.

"So..." Miroku said casually.

"What are you doing here, Miroku?" Inuyasha blurted out.

"Oh yes, I came by to see why you're not going to the party," he answered still looking around.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and groaned,"You came here to ask me _that_?"

"Yup!"

"You're stupid," Inuyasha said folding his arms.

Miroku looked thoughtfully into space as Inuyasha waited for his reaction. Miroku looked up at Inuyasha,"Why are you human if you're supposed to be a half-demon?"

Inuyasha huffed out his irritation,"Why do you ask so many questions?" Miroku only shrugged. "Well, every half-demon has just one night a month where they turn human, and mine is on every new moon."

"Oh," Miroku looked at Inuyasha," You don't look that bad, but your ears stick out. Reminds me of a monkey!" Inuyasha growled and made a fist. "Why are you always so touchy?"

"I'm not touchy."

"Yes, you are. You need to laugh every once and a while like me."

Inuyasha grunted,"Laugh?"

Miroku ignored the question and fixated his eyes on a picture by the side of Inuyasha's bed. He got up and walked over, picking it up with wide-hungry eyes.

'WHOA! She's hot!"

Inuyasha grabbed the picture from the pervert's hands and yelled,"Don't touch that you stupid!" He grabbed onto the picture protectively.

"Who is she?"

Inuyasha sighed and looked at the picture in front of him, touching her face,"My girlfriend, Kikyou."

"I didn't know you had a girlfriend." Inuyasha glared at Miroku. "What?" asked the blue-eyed boy throwing his hands up in the air defensively.

"I don't want to talk about her," he stated.

"Oh, did she make you mad, or did you make her mad and you haven't apologized yet, and she's giving you the cold shoulder?" Miroku asked, trying to sound smart about the situation. Inuyasha closed his eyes and looked down. With teeth clinched and eyebrows twitching, Inuyasha went silent. Miroku just stared at the half-demon in front of him.

"Ah ha! I knew it! You did do something! Well, if I were you I'd go over-"

"Shut up! You don't know anything!" He said, standing up in a rage of fury. "She's _dead_!"

Inuyasha paced back and forth in anger. He swallowed, trying to choke back the tears. Miroku sat watching him with a blank expression, while Inuyasha kept pacing back and forth until he became calmer. He sighed and sat down at his desk, taking the picture in his hand, touching her face lovingly. Silence went over the room for a while and all that could be heard was an occasional sigh from Inuyasha. Miroku only stared at him with a thoughtful look, and broke the silence.

"So, why aren't you going to the party?"

No answer.

Miroku asked again. Inuyasha spun around in his chair slowly, "I can't."

"Why not? Does it have something to do with Kagome? Do you hate her that much?"

Inuyasha looked at Miroku in shock,"No, I don't hate Kagome."

"Then what?"

"And...it does have something to do with Kagome, but then it doesn't."

"Okay,"Miroku said impatiently,"then what's that?"

"Well, I promised Kikyou I would love her forever."

Miroku laughed,"Who says you're gonna fall in love with anyone?" Inuyasha looked at the picture again.

"Gawd, you're quite depressing. You need to get out and live a little, and the perfect way to do that is by going to the party!"

"No."

"No?"

"I'm not going."

Miroku sighed, "Aww, c'mon Inuyasha,"he said in his best whiney voice.

Inuyasha looked at Miroku teasingly,"And why do you want me to go so bad?"

Miroku blushed,"Uh, because Kagome really like you, and wishes that you would go."

"I can't."

"Oh gosh, Inuyasha!" Miroku said getting up."No offense or anything, but that Kikyou chick is dead! It wouldn't matter if you went to the party or not because Kikyou would never know because she's D-E-A-D, _dead_!"

Inuyasha jumped out of his chair, ready to pound his guest, but sat back down as reality set in. "Do you really think so?"

Miroku walked over towards Inuyasha," Trust me, nothing will happen and you'll have lot of fun at the party. My brother's parties are the best! Look you can even spend the night at my house, and we could hang out tomorrow before the party. How about that?"

Inuyasha thought about it and replied with a sigh,"Oh all right, I'll go." Soon he was packing up his clothes in a backpack, making mental notes of each item.

"I forgot my pants! Help me look for my pants!"

Miroku raised an eyebrow and muttered to himself,"How can someone forget pants?"

They both looked around Inuyasha's very large and mess room, finding everything, but a pair of pants. Miroku picked up old books, dirtied shirts, and old soda cans, looking at each with disgust and horror. He rummaged about, cleaning as he went while Inuyasha frantically looked about, trying to find anything. Noticing that no one had touched the closet, Miroku walked over and opened it, coughing and gasping as a cloud of dust billowed into the room. Once it cleared dust, dead bugs, and old boxes were piled about as if the closet hadn't been opened in years.

"Eww! How can you stand this? Don't you ever clean?"

Inuyasha glared with his blue, gray eyes,"What do you mean? My room _is _clean! I cleaned it last,"he paused thinking very hard," Umm, I don't remember!"

Miroku laughed,"Ah ha! How can you have such a messy room when you said you moved here only a week ago." Disgusted by the closet, he closed it and walked around the room some more, snooping about halfway looking for the pants and halfway looking for anything interesting.

"That's none of your business," the half demon snapped.

Miroku shrugged, and looked through old letters and pictures on Inuyasha's desk. He was bored, but something on the edge, near an old desk lamp, caught his eye. An object in the shape of a tiny, glossy box sparkled at him. He picked it up in awe as he closely examined it twinkling in the light.

"Hey, what is this?"

Inuyasha half heartedly looked over and went back to trying to find his pants. "Oh, that's something my father game me."

"What's in it?" Miroku asked, curiously interested.

"Hmm, I don't know," Inuyasha mumbled," There's a lock on it, but I can't get it open."

Disappointed, Miroku sat the box down,"Oh."

Miroku watched Inuyasha look around some more, and finally the half demon decided to give up. He looked about his messy room, stretched, and sighed, dissapointed he couldn't find a single pair. He walked over to Miroku, picked up the box, put it in the jeans he was currently wearing, and smiled.

"I guess I'll just wear these for tomorrow."

The two quickly went downstairs as Miroku waited by the front door while Inuyasha informed his mother of his plans. Inuyasha walked by Miroku, opened the door, but quickly closed it with a horrid gasp, running down a hall and disappearing. He watched after Inuyasha with a confused expression and jaw agape at Inuyasha's random show. Soon he was back wearing a blanket that covered his face, and once again opened the door and walked outside with Miroku following.

"It isn't necessary that you wear a blanket over to my house. I mean I can understand you'd want to hide your ears, but isn't that a little extreme?"

"I have to wear this," Inuyasha answer defensively, getting into the truck.

"Why?" Miroku asked, turning on the truck.

Inuyasha sighed with irritation," Because when I'm a human I lose my demon powers. I'm vulnerable to all demon attacks, so hiding myself saves me from the demons that want to attack me."

"Well if I was wearing a blanket about, I'd attract attention--not hide from it."

Inuyasha ignored him and sunk down low in the seat. Miroku thought about what Inuyasha has just told him. They drove out of Inuyasha's driveway and headed towards the middle of the northern part of town.

"Wait a minute! Demon attacks? Why would a demon attack you? You know we're going to be driving into demon central, don't you?"

"I know, so I hope that no demon notices my scent."

A cold shiver went over Miroku. "Wow, you certainly are a popular fellow," he said sarcastically, watching the road as street lamps began to appear.

"I have a lot of enemies."

Miroku gulped, fear setting in. _Oh great! I might die tonight! Yaaaaay! I've always wanted to do that._ Determined to get out of the northern part of town quickly, he sped as fast as he could until he reached the southern boundary. For many years, demons had taken over the northern part of town, ever since the powerful Dog Demon, Inutaisho, was killed. There was a great barrier that separated the northern and the southern parts from the demons, but only the strong demons that could disguise themselves as humans could pass through the barrier, which were very few.

They both finally entered Miroku's house, and they were quickly greeted by Miroku's mother.

"Hi, Mom!" Miroku said kissing her forehead,"Why are you up so late?"

"To see if you did any drugs."

Miroku smiled with a slight hurt expression, "No, Mom, I haven't done any drugs, nor will I ever." He kissed her reassuringly again. "I promise." She studied Miroku's face and then looked at Inuyasha who was still hiding under the blanket. She gave him a quizzical look. Miroku looked from his mom to Inuyasha.

"Oh that's right," Miroku said," Mom, this is Inuyasha, my friend, he'll be staying here tonight."

His mom stared at the blanketed person in front of her suspiciously. "Does he do any drugs?"

Miroku looked as if he was going to choke back tears, but blushed instead as he glanced at Inuyasha. "No, Mom, he doesn't do drugs." He shook his head at Inuyasha. "Take off the blanket. You're safe here." And with that he hugged and kissed his mother on the cheek. "We're off to my room now, goodnight!" Before she could say anything, the boys had disappeared into Miroku's room.

Inuyash took a step into Miroku's room and was taken back by the perfect clean room. Everything was spotless. His bed was mad, and not even a single piece of paper was out of place. It was perfectly organized. His room was uneasily clean.

"Oh that's right, You've never seen a clean room," Miroku said teasingly.

"You're a freak!" Inuyasha blurted.

He laughed," I know! I'm a clean freak."

Inuyasha threw his backpack on the ground and looked around Miroku's room, still in disbelief, and causally asked,"What's wrong with your mom? She seems overly cautious."

Miroku looked down, ashamed and embarrassed. "She's been like that ever since my father left us. She thinks it was because he did drugs. She was heartbroken, and hopes that the same fate doesn't bestow me. She's scared to lose me, that's all" He paused thoughtfully. "To be honest, she went kind of insane after he left. It's almost an obsession with her. When I was younger I got so frustrated with her nagging me about drugs that I'd lock myself in my room, and cleaned trying to push her nagging out of my head." He chuckled. "I guess that's why I have an obsession with cleanliness now."

Inuyasha blushed, "I'm sorry, I didn't-"

"No it's okay. I don't blame her for anything. Her soul was hurt pretty badly. It's hard to heal from a wounded soul. You probably know that more than anything, right?" Inuyasha nodded.

"It's sad though," Miroku laughed ironically. "Little does she know how much I really am like father. She wont even acknowledge my brother's existence. She doesn't know I go to his parties. She doesn't know I have an obsession with girls. She doesn't know."

"Doesn't that make you want to stop?" Inuyasha asked.

Miroku shrugged," I've tried. It's just so hard. Besides, if she doesn't know, she can't get hurt right?"

Inuyasha shook his head," I can't believe you would do that even though your mother hates it. I would never do anything to hurt mine."

He laughed, changing the subject,"We better get some sleep, we might be up all night tomorrow."

He took off his clothes, and set out the next day's outfit, shaking his booty to imaginary music. "Ah! Freedom!" he said to himself, dancing around in his boxers. Inuyasha only watched in disgusted disbelief, unable to make out his new friend's bizarre ways. He began to get ready to go bed as Miroku watched him.

"Stop looking at me!"

"Oh please! I wouldn't hit on a guy even if my life depended one it! I like girls. I love girls. I love Sango." Miroku coughed, realizing what he had just said, and quickly rephrased it. "Yes, I love girls. Not Sango." Inuyasha nodded with a mischievous smirk. Miroku laughed at himself, rubbing his head.

"So what side of the bed do you want?" Miroku asked in a fruity voice, winking at Inuyasha. Inuyasha glared at Miroku, ready to throw his shoes at the teenage womanizer. Miroku laughed his hardest, grabbing a pillow , and pulling out the sleeping bag from underneath his bed, setting up a makeshift bed for Inuyasha. "I'm joking!" He chuckled again as he and Inuyasha climbed into their separate beds. "Man, you should have seen your face."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and laughed sarcastically. "Ha, ha, very funny."'

Obviously proud of himself, Miroku smiled," I know." And with that he turned off the lamp beside his bed, and closed his eyes for sleep. Inuyasha layed awake for a while, watching Miroku's ceiling fan spin around and around, as the sun slowly came up. Soon, Miroku's snoring filled the room, and Inuyasha rolled over on his side and fell asleep.

Finally, Miroku woke at one in the afternoon, stretching, yawning, and stumbling out of his bed, sleepily, making his way towards the bathroom down the hall. He came back, mumbled something to himself, probably still half asleep, and yawned, body slamming himself back onto his bed and closed his eyes. Inuyasha was sitting down on the floor looking out Miroku's window watching the outside world, lost in his own thoughts.

_What am I doing? I can't go to this party tonight_, he thought logically to himself. Out of the blue, Miroku sat up quickly and pointed at Inuyasha, jaw dropped. Inuyasha stared back quizzically.

"Inuyasha, you have silver hair again!"

"Uh huh," he uncaringly replied.

Miroku nodded, obviously thinking about something, then jumped off his bed. "Awesome! Let's go to the mall!" He put on his clothes in a hurry, and gelled his messy, bed head hair.

"The mall?" Inuyasha groaned.

"Uh huh," he replied, staring at himself in the mirror. "Girls!"

Inuyasha let out a exasperated sigh. "Where's the mall?"

Miroku laughed,"Don't tell me you've never been to the mall?" Inuyasha shook his head. "Okay it's settled then. We're going to the mall, so that you, my friend, can enjoy the millions of girls and lots of tasty food!"

On Saturday morning, Kagome called Sango and asked her is she'd like to go to the mall. She was going to use this as an opportunity to try and persuade her friend into going to Miroku's brother's party. She knew Sango really didn't want to go, but she desperately needed a friend to go with her.

They both walked into the mall, and at once both of their stomachs started to growl as they sniffed the food court's variety of food.

"Maybe we should eat something before we spend all of our money," Kagome suggested.

After they both got their lunch, they found a clean table and sat down. Sango smelled her food and sighed with contentment,"Food is great!" She said before diving into her sesame chicken, fried rice, and crab rangoon. Kagome agreed and started digging in.

"You know, I can't wait until this party tonight! It's going to be a blast!"

Sango rolled her eyes,"Uh, I doubt it. Miroku's brother is a bigger pervert than Miroku is, and that's saying_ a lot_!"

"Eh, who cares," Kagome shrugged. "Please go with me, Sango! I don't want to be the only one there that knows Miroku. I need you! _Please_!" she begged with her famous puppy dog pout.

"What about Inuyasha? Isn't he going?" Sango asked taking a bit of the fried rice.

Kagome's pout changed to a glare,"No."

Sango laughed,"Maybe you should take Kouga!"

Her glare changed to a look of disgust. "Eww, Kouga! Gross. No way! We've already been through this whole Kouga thing, Sango."

Sango though for a moment,"Hmm, let's play around for a moment, shall we?" Kagome raised an eyebrow suspiciously, as Sango gave a big smile over Kagome's shoulder. "Let's say that Kouga was behind you and he asked you out, what would you say?"

Kagome put down her fork and said,"I'd say...Heck, no! I hate you, so stop coming near me, because you disgust me with all of your macho, control-freakness."

Sango laughed,"What if he was standing behind you right now at this very moment?"

Kagome thought for a second,"I'd frea-"

"Hi, Kagome!" Kouga said behind her with his loud booming voice.

Kagome's mouth froze in shock as she slowly crouched her head down towards the table, and quickly spun around with an annoyed smile. "Kouga. What are you doing here?"

Kouga quickly pulled out a chair and sat in it backwards staring at Kagome with the biggest, dopiest, smile she had ever seen. "I thought you'd be here, so..." Kagome narrowed her eyes, sending daggers to his over confident self, and stopped listening to whatever he was saying, which she knew was completely pointless and brain numbing. _Nooo! How is this happening? This isn't fair! Now he's talking to me, and I have no idea how to get rid of the dumb jock._ She slumped down her chair, glaring at Sango who pretended to listen to Kouga as he rambled about football practice.

"And when we graduate, you'll be my woman..." Kouga went on.

Kagome looked at her friend pleadingly, but Sango just smiled bigger. _Oh, that's just evil! She isn't even going to help me get rid of him. She's going to pay big time. Now she's really going to have to go to this party!_ She got up quickly, ignoring Kouga's irritated expression, and looked at Sango,"Well, I'm ready to go shopping–how about you, Sango?"

"Nope, I haven't finished my food," Sango said still smiling mockingly at Kagome. Kagome glared.

"What food? It's already gone. It's been gone for a long time already," she said frowning at her friend.

Sango looked at her plate in fake surprise,"What I mean to say is that I still have to finish my drink."

"You didn't order a drink." Kagome said in a monotone, matter-of-fact, voice.

Kouga got up from his chair and put an arm around Kagome,"I'm ready to go shopping!"

Sango giggled,"Alright, let's go shopping!" Kagome sent more daggers at her friend. With his arms still around Kagome, he dragged her along to different stores as Sango followed. Kagome desperately wanted to kill Sango for her treachery towards their friendship. An hour later, the three walked into _Hot Topic_ looking at the clothes. Kouga was starting to get handsy, and Kagome kept shoving his hands away. Quickly, Kouga dragged her out of the store without Sango noticing and pulled her over to a long corridor used in emergency situations. His grip around her grew tighter as she let out a cry of pain.

"Kouga, let go of me! You're hurting me!"

Kouga put a finger on her lips to shush her, but she tried to bite them. "Be quiet,"he growled and gave a slight lecherous smirk. "Everything will be okay."

"I want to go back to Sango!" She tried to walk away, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her into his arms.

"I want you," he said gruffly, breathing heavily on her neck. He pulled his head down and started to kiss the back of her neck roughly as she let out a stifled scream. "I already told you," he growled,"be quiet!"

Miroku and Inuyasha walked through the food court in the mall and started sniffing the air.

"Ah, smell that?"

"Smell, what?" Inuyasha asked with annoyance.

"That!" Miroku said, spreading out his arms at the food court. "It all smells so good, and I'm starving. Do I want pizza? Chinese? Sandwiches? Mexican?"

"Let's just get the Chinese food," Inuyasha said walking towards the corner restaurant, and at that moment, Sango walked up to them with a slightly relieved face.

"Nah, I think I want pizza,"Miroku said decidingly.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes,"Ugh, no way! Chinese."

"Piiizzaaaa."

"Oh, please! You two are just like little kids,"Sango said as she rolled her eyes at the guys.

"Hello, my dearest, Sango! How are you today?" he asked putting an arm around her.

She looked at his arm with uneasiness and replied,"Uh, not too well actually."

Miroku looked at her with deep concern,"What is the matter?"

"I was just wondering if you two have seen Kagome. One minute her, Kouga, and I were in _Hot Topic_. I turn around for one second, and they were gone! I don't know where they went."

"Kouga?" Inuyasha asked. "She's with _him_?!" He growled at the thought. _How could she be with him? She hates him! _Inuyasha tightened his fists in anger. _He's probably doing something to her right now, the bastard._

"Can you two help me find her?"

"If I find him I'm gonna-"

Miroku smiled,"Yes! We'll help you find Kagome." That quieted Inuyasha down a little.

"Thanks..." Sango said with a blush.

Miroku gave Sango a big goofy, love-sick, grin and squeezed her lightly,"Anything for you." Inuyasha rolled his eyes and hit Miroku upside the head. "Ow! What was that for?"

Inuyasha ignored him,"C'mon, let's go find Kagome."

The both followed Sango to _Hot Topic_ where she had last seen Kagome and Kouga. Inuyasha frantically sniffed everything in the store causing people to stare and give strange looks at the half-demon. He looked over at Miroku and Sango and quickly calmed himself down. He walked calmly past them, and muttered to himself,"I smell it again. It's that strange scent I had smelled in the gym and the classroom before." Miroku and Sango looked at eachother confused, but followed Inuyasha out of the store. They watched from behind has he sniffed through the air following a scent. Every once and a while he'd stop dead in his tracks and listen with his ears twitching every which way, until he kept on moving. He did this for several minutes until he stopped again and listened. Miroku and Sango walked up next to Inuyasha.

"What is it, Inuyasha?" Sango asked.

Suddenly out of nowhere, Inuyasha started to run down the busy mall halls heading towards a less busier part of the mall. "What is it?" yelled Miroku. "Hey, Inuyasha, wait up!"

Kouga kissed Kagome lightly on her neck and begane to stroke his fingers through her hair.

"Kouga, stop it!" She pleaded.

"C'mon, Kagome, you know you want me," he said again with his nose pressed against hers looking int her eyes.

"Never!" she hissed.

Forcefully, he pressed his lips up against hers, which almost knocked her off her feet. She shoved him away and glared as she raised her hand to slap him, but he blocked with his hand.

"Kagome, you're pretty foolish. You're all mine. MINE! You're _my_ wo-man, and there's nothing you can do about it!" Kouga yelled angrily, punching his fist into the wall beside her head. Just then, something behind punched him in the, knocking him forward, and crushing Kagome beneath him.

"Get off her, you jerk!" Inuyasha yelled, picking Kouga up and throwing him against a wall. He ran towards Kagome, who was crimpled on the floor unconscious. Sango and Miroku ran into the corridor and Sango gasped.

"Is Kouga dead? Did you kill him, Inuyasha?"

"I don't care if he he is or not,"Inuyasha said as he gentle wrapped his arms around Kagome's limp body.

"Is Kagome okay?" Sango asked with tears in her eyes.

"I-Inu-Inuyasha?" came a faint voice.

"Kagome...uh...are you hurt?" he asked as Miroku helped her up out of his arms.

She stood up, leaning against Miroku who was rubbing her butt in the process. "Miroku!"

"Sorry, habit. What did Kouga do to you?"

Kagome threw her arms in the air with frustrations and replied sarcastically,"Oh the usual, you know forcing himself upon me,and calling me his 'wo-man'. Need I say more?"

Inuyasha turned his back towards the groupw and thought about what had just happened. _That jerk! He was practically all over her with 'you're my wo-man' and blah, blah, blah! Who cares! _Inuyasha grew angrier and angrier the more he thought about Kagome's situation.

Kouga started to wake up and groaned outloud. He touched his head and winced in pain. Inuyasha walked over to him and grabbed him by the shirt. "Don't you ever go near Kagome again, or next time I wont be as nice,"Inuyasha growled.

Kouga laughed,"You're such a loser, you know that? You don't scare me, half-breed."

"Oh, we'll just see about that. Like I said, next time I wont be as nice. You're a waste of my time right now. Get out of here, or I might have to see if I should sharpen my claws on you!"

Kouga stood up and poked Inuyasha threateningly in the chest,"This isn't over, pup!" He growled and walked away. Everyone was silent as they stared at the fuming Inuyaha who was breathing hard with anger. He looked over at Kagome who looked away from him and stared at the ground. He looked over at Miroku who was hiding behind a trash can. Miroku got up quickly, embaressed, and started blushing as he scratched his head with a smile.

"Heh, heh, I was getting the uh, ummm...trash can! Yes, I was getting the trash can ready for you in case you wanted to trash can Kouga, I but I guess you didn't want to do that." He gave a nervous laugh.

Inuyasha looked back at Kagome. She met his eyes, but quickly looked down at her feet. _His eyes,_ she thought. _His golden eyes. What look are they giving me that is different from his overall expression? Is it concern? Concern for me? But every time I look into them, I can't help but blush. _

Inuyasha grunted and pushed Kagome out of his way as he stormed down the hallway. Kagome stood there in surprise as she watched his walk away. _What? Why is he so mad?_

"Inuyasha, wait up! What's wrong?" Kagome yelled as she ran after him. Miroku and Sango watched the two run down the hallway as they stood in silence.

"Well, that was strange," Miroku said, interrupting the silence. Sango only nodded. "Of course, Inuyasha is always strange. It's hard to tell what the hell he's thinking."

Sango nodded again giving a faint smile. _Oh, great. I'm alone with him. I know he's going to grab for my butt soon. What should I do this time, slap or kick him? Which would hurt the most? _She looked at his beautiful blue eyes that were smiling at her. _This is horrible! I need to get away, before he does something tricky. _

"Sango, you are coming to the party tonight, right?" Miroku asked softly.

_What's this? He actually seems like a human being, instead of a pervert!_ One look at his sincere face made Sango melt. He gave her a warm smile, which put her into a daydreaming daze. Miroku really was an attractive young man she decided.

"Well, are you?"

"Oh, yeah, sure," Sango said still looking at him day dreamingly.

"Alright! We're going to have so much fun!"

"Uh-huh,"Sanga said quietly, still staring at his eyes.

"Do you think we should find Kagome and Inuyasha?"

Sanga snapped into reality at the mention of her friend's name and replied,"Oh, yeah, I guess we should. Kagome has probably killed Inuyasha by now."

Miroku and Sanog ran down the hallway into the direction that Inuyasha and Kagome went. They walked through the Saturday afternoon mall crowd, and up ahead, Miroku spotted Inuyasha's silver hair and Kagome's hands waving in the air stubbornly.

"Inuyasha, wait up, I just want to know what's wrong? Is it Kouga? Because if it's Kouga, he's easily taken care of," Kagome said. He stopped walking and spun around causing Kagome to fall forwards into his shoulder.

"Sorry," Kagome said backing away from him. "I just want to know what's wrong. Why did you storm off like that?"

"You wouldn't understand, so just stop asking."

"How do you know? You've never given me a chance to understand!" Kagome said with hurt.

Inuyasha spotted Miroku and shoved him in the shoulder,"C'mon, let's go Miroku."

"Huh? Why?" Miroku asked slightly confused.

"Let's go to a different mall," he replied as he walked towards the exit doors.

"But there isn't another mall," Miroku protested, looking at Sango who looked back at him then Kagome equally confused. Kagome looked away saddened or mad, no one could tell.

Inuyasha turned around and looked straight at Miroku,"I just want to leave, and get away from these people. Their scent sickens me." As he said that, he glared at Kagome, who choked back a tear.

Miroku frowned and looked at Sango, touched her hand, and said,"Bye, Sanga. I'll see you tonight." Inuyasha walked towards the doors again, and Sango put her arm around her distressed friend. Kagome tightened her lips and glared at the back of his bobbing silver hair.

"Stupid, Inuyasha," she muttered under her breath.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for being patient with me. I hope you enjoyed the 4th chapter. **


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: **All Inuyasha characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi.

For Love and Power

by Ivaliny

Chapter 5

* * *

"Hurry up Kagome, or we'll be late fo rthe party!"Sango yelled at Kagome who was still in the bathroom. Suddenly a head popped out through the door. "What? I thought you didn't care about the party," Kagome teased suspiciously.

Sango blushed and laughed nervously, "OH, well, you know, I don't care, but I just thought that," she paused as her eyes darted around the room quickly in nervous thought, "you'd...want to get there soon." She folded her arms and gave a slight pout, "That's all."

"_I'm_ just glad Inuyasha won't be there. I try and try to be nice to him, and try and try to be his friend, but he just goes and starts being a big, fat _jerk_! UGH! It makes me so mad!"

Kagome walked out of the bathroom with one of her many new outfits on and gave a little twirl for her friend to see. She wore a new pair of jeans and a navy blue, b-neck tank top. "Do you think any college guys will notice me tonight?"

"Wow, Kagome, you look gorgeous in that shirt. Of course, college guys will notice you,"she said with a hint of jealousy in her voice.

"Yeah, good! I'm just _so _glad Inuyasha's not coming!" She said as she stormed out of the house towards her car.

"_What a one-track mind,_"Sango though as she followed her friend, "_It's not even that cool as to how obvious she is, and how big her crush is on Inuyasha."_

Miroku's brother went to college about an hour and a half away, but Kagome and Sango didn't mind the drive. It gave them a chance to be silly and listen to their old time favourite songs from long ago–Disney songs. Also, like teenage girls going to a big concert, they had the occassional scream, "AHH! OH MY GOSH, we're going to a party!" Obviously, it was their first party. They finally reached the house hours late, thanks to Kagome, but were surprised to see all the cars. Some were parked in the grass, driveway, roach, and even through and old shed. Sango spotted an open space on the lawn next to Miroku's purple truck, which was often called the "Gay Ride" thanks to the shade of purple, but those who knew Miroku, especially Sango, knew he was far from being gay.

Outside the house, men and women were partying and drinking all around, and music was shaking the ground like it was a huge earthquake. Sango stepped over an already passed out drunk on the stairs. "Eww, that's gross,"Kagome said under her breath as she stepped over the body herself. The two girls walked inside and saw Miroku's brother with fice woman all around him as he noticed Kagome and Sango and smiled. He got up shakily and stumbled his way over to the girls.

"It's Kagome and Sango, making their grand, and beautiful enterance to the party. Hello, Ladies." He said taking a big gulp of his beer can.

Kagome was unimpressed and looked away,"Uh, hi."

Miroku's brother, who looked a lot like Miroku, but with a longer face, looked at Sango and gave her a creepy, animalistic smile. His eyes pryed over her body to stare at her breasts, while he licked his lips in hunger. Sango was beginning to feel uncomfortable and started to back away, but he stepped forward until he was right infront of her.

"Ah, the sexy, Sango, the one I had dreams about ever since I was a junior in high school. You are smokin' tonight!" He gave a howl like a werewolf, trying to look cool. He leaned forward heavily, his moth inches from her head as she looked away with a wrinkle of her nose. "You were the hottest freshman ever. Every time you walked your but was so...so...perfect. I wanted to touch it, grab it for myself, but I just couldn't bring myself to that level," he said whispering, desperately trying to sound sexy.

Sango grunted in annoyance at his bad breath and drunken stupor, "Ha! You idiot, but you _did_ grab my butt _countless_ times, you stupid pervert. Thank God, you aren't here this year." She shoved him out of the way, causing him to fall down. "Don't touch me ever again, or I'll break your arm! Got it?"

He stared at her in a stupified, horror-stricken face and began to cry like a drunken fool. "Scary woman!" he blurted out as he ran away, tripping over furniture and beer cans screaming, "she's going to kill me!"

Sango rolled her eyes and looked around. She tried to find Kagome, who had left her side long ago, but couldn't find her. She finally found her, however, but surrounded by drunken guys who were trying their best to flirt with her. _This party sucks, _Sango thought. _All that's here are drunken, stupid guys just wanting to get inside girls who looks like crack whores. I should never have come to this party, and where's Miroku? He's probably doing what every other guy at this part are doing: getting drunk and making pathetic cheap passes to some cheap, college whore!_ She sat down on a couch who had two people making out on it. _How disgusting,_ she thought. She looked over at the guy and gasped,"Miroku?!"

The guy stood up in and instant and looked at her in horror. _Oh, it's only _him,she thought with dissapointmet. "Get away from me! Don't kill me!"the guy said running away with the woman following closely behind screaming, Wait for me, I wont kill you!"

Sango rolled her eyes and sighed, "Miroku's brother is worse than Miroku. I never thought I'd say that." _Where IS Miroku? _She sighed again, which was becoming an annoying habit. _Why do I want to see you so badly?_

Suddenly there was a tap upon her shoulder and a figure sat down next to her on the couch holding a cup. "Hello, my dearest Sango."

Sango looked at the figure and smiled a sigh of relief,"Miroku!"

Miroku smiled back and took a drink from his cup. "So...how are you liking the party? Would you like something to drink?"

"Oh, no thanks, I don't really like alcohol. In fact, I really don't know why I came to this party in the first place. Drinking makes you look like a retard, but obviously you don't care about that, because you're drinking like everyone else."

Miroku stared at her blankly and laughed,"This isn't alcohol. It's Sparkling White Grape Juice." He pulled out a wine shaped bottle that indeed had "sparkling white grape juice" on the side.

"To be honest, I don't like to drink at my brother's parties. They're usually wild enough. I come just to socialize, I guess, but do _not_ tell my brother about this, otherwise he'll make fun of me for the rest of my life. Would you like to try some?"

Sango blushed and smiled, "I...suppose."

Miroku quickly finished the juice in his glass and set it aside. He picked up the bottle, "Close your eyes and open your mouth."

Sango's smile faded away as she glared at Miroku. "What for?" she asked, and not amused one bit.

"So that I can pour a little bit into your mouth. I doubt you'd want to use my cup." He made a point, she thought, so Sango sighed and gave in. She opened her mouth and closed her eyes. "You're only goign to pour the juice in my mouth and that's it! Got it?" Miroku said nothing. Sango opened an eye and looked at him. "Don't. Do. Anything. Or else..."

Miroku nodded, knowing perfectly well that she'd probably slap him silly if he did anything but pour the juice into her mouth. Sango closed her eyes again. She felt the couch move and felt Miroku stand up. His hands gently touched her chin and she opened her mouth. He poured a tiny trickle of the juice and stopped, allowing the tingly carbonated sensation to increase and fade away on her tongue. Sango swallowed slowly and smiled.

"I liked that," she whispered softly with her eyes still closed. Miroku smiled and gently touched her chin. She opened her mouth ready for more. He did this several more times, taking pleasure in the smile she gave him every time. He touched her chin gently for the last time, she giggled and opened her mouth slightly, ready for more. There was a pause when nothing happened. As she was about to open her eyes to see what Miroku was doing, he leaned in slowly and kissed her. Her eyes darted open to protest, but he kept on kissing her. She hit him, and nothing happened. She hit him again, but lighter this time and soon she gave in and let him kiss her.

Miroku stopped, and sat back down on the couch, but this time on the opposite end with eyes wide open. Sango opened her eyes, and stared at him in confusion. He looked at her and blushed, which definitely surprised her. They sat in silence as they just stared at each other, until he broke the silence and apologetically pleaded at her.

"I'm sorry Sango, but I just couldn't resist." She stared at him in shock. _Is he saying he's sorry for kissing me? Since when did Miroku say sorry about kissing a girl?_

"Oh," Sango could only say.

Miroku scooted closer towards her and looked into her eyes. "Can I tell you something, Sango?" She squinted suspiciously at his eyes, studying them, until she realized that he was asking a serious question. She looked down at her hands and became instantly nervous.

"I guess so,"she answered hestitantly.

He laughed nervously, "Well, it's kind of embaressing, and I don't know how you would react to it."

"Please, Miroku, you can tell me anything, and I promise I wont tell a soul."

"Okay, well," he put her hands in his,"Sango, I-"

Just then, somebody fell on top of the two as the person was crossing the room in his drunken waddle, and Sango screamed as they both jumped back into the couch. There in between them was a man passed out and drooling all over Miroku's lap. Miroku looked at the man with disgust as he pushed him off of themselves. "Ugh! I've never seen a party so out of control. Believe it or not, but my brother's parties have never been this bad. This definitely has to be the worse."

Suddenly, Inuyasha and Kagome walked up to the couch from opposite ends of the room, and totally unaware of the other's presence.

"Miroku-"

"Sango-"

"I-" the both said in unison as they finally gazed upon the other. Kagome's jaw dropped and she gasped. "Inuyasha! What are you doing here?"

Inuyasha looked at her with wide, scared eyes, and grunted. "I cam for the party. What does it look like?"

Kagome gasped, exasperated with this stupid half-demon in front of her, but also looked away shyly for interrogating him at the same time. Miroku jumped up from the couch and defended Inuyasha.

"Kagome, I invited him, because you said that you really wished that he would go."

This tipped the bucket, and she glared at Inuyasha. "Oh, I see! You come to the party when Miroku asks you, but what _I_ ask you, you're all like "No, I don't do parties."

Inuyasha opened his mouth in a stubborn protest,"YOU...I...uh-"

"Uh-huh! I thought that you thought that I was your friend, Inuyasha. I guess not. I only just wanted to be your friend, you jerk!" Kagome screamed as tears began to form in the corner of her eyes, and she let out an unexpected sob.

Miroku gave Kagome a perverted, mischievous smile. "Is that _all_ you wanted?"

She shot a quick glare at him, "Wh-what?!" She was beginning to get very angry. She felt like a volcano swelling with magma, just seconds from exploding. Miroku's eyes widened in shocked horror, but began to concrete his feet to the side of the swelling volcano.

"I...I was just saying, or meaning really, that you seem to want more from Inuyasha than friendship." Inuyasha looked at Miroku in surprise, then at Kagome. _Is it true? Does Kagome really want more than just friendship from me? _He mentally grunted, as if he didn't care. _It doesn't matter. I can't be with Kagome-ever. I'm still in love with Kikyou._

Kagome looked at Miroku, then at Inuyasha with a hurt, confused gaze, "I...I don't know," she said crying and ran off with Sango following. Inuyasha watched the girls run off, and he gave them a confued looked as he tried to process what just happened.

"What just happened, Miroku?"he growled.

Miroku looked in the same direction and shrugged. He poured himself some more juice. "Who knows. Women, they're so confusing. I don't think any one could understand them. But if I had to guess, I'd say Kagome likes you more than just a friend, and the fact that I said that she liked you more than just a friend outloud-and in front of you-only confused and scared her." He shrugged again hopelessly,"But then again, I'm probably wrong-like I usually am-and he just went away crying, because she really had to go pee."

"Pee? God, Miroku, you're lame."

"Eh, It could happen," Miroku said as he took a sip of the juice. Inuyasha grunted and glared at Miroku. "She had to go pee? That's all you could think of? What is she's really mad or sad even? Even worse, what I was the reason for it?"

"Oh, I'm quite sure you were the reason."

"Thanks," Inuyasha said sarcastically, and stormed off in the opposite direction of the girls, fuming with anger at himself. Miroku sat back down on the couch and started to drink his juice.

"My, Inuyasha has more mood swings than a girl." He looked bored. "I wonder when Sango will be back." He shrugged," I guess, I'll wait here and drink my juice." He smiled and took a sip.

Kouga sat in his room listening to music, clinching his teeth in anger. He sat on his bed glaring at the lava lamp. "That stupid dog! He's ruining everything. Kagome is _my_ woman, and I"ll never let her be with anyone else, besides me. I love her." His gaze moved towards a picture on the side of his bed. "Inuyasha, you're dead! I'll kill you if I have to. I'll even ruin my cover, just as long as I know you'll be gon and out of the picture. I wont allow you to come in between me and Kagome again."

Suddenly there was a knock at the front door, and Kouga got up to answer it. "What the...?" He grumbled his way towards the door. "Who would be here at freakin' one in the morning?"

He saw a metal bat in a corner near the door and picked it up, ready to swing if he had to. Kouga unlated the lock and opened the door quickly. He looked out and saw nobody standing there and gaved a grunt in frustration. "Dangit, I must be hearing things."

As he was closing the door, he noticed something white on the "welcome mat." He bent down and picked it up. He turned it over in his hands and opened it, quickly reading its contents. Suddenly, his eyes widened as he ran inside as fast as he could to his room, while leaving the front door open. He grabbed his keys and jacket, and left the house, burning rubber down the street.

Sango followed Kagome outside where they stopped underneath a big tree in the yard. Kagome stopped crying and stared at the night sky.

"What's wrong, Kagome?"

She sighed and shook her head, "I don't know, Sango."

"There has to be a reason, otherwise you wouldn't have just stormed out of the house crying."

"I think I'm starting to like Inuyasha, but I don't want to. I mean, he's in love with this other girl, so there's no chance there would even be a 'us' in the future. I don't know. Oh, and when Miroku asked me if I wanted more than just friendship from Inuyasha, I got scared and confused, and I didn't know what to do, so I ran."

"Hmm," Sango said. They were quiet for a while. "I wonder what they're doing right now."

"I don't know, and I don't want to know. I think all stay out here for a while."

"If you're staying out here, then I'll stay out here, too," Sango said as she hugged her best friend.

"Thanks, Sango," Kagome said with a smile. They sat underneath the tree, admiring the clear, sparkly, night. Sky.

An hour passed and Miroku still sat on the couch drinking his juice. He thought Sango would have returned by now, but he was still alone. Now he was even wondering where Inuyasha had gone. He got up from the couch and pushed his way through a crowd of people. Someone fell on top of him, and Miroku knocked him over.

"Dude, pull yourself together, man! You could have tripped," the man said, running away.

Miroku shook his head with disappointment, "These drunks; they're so out of it. I need to get away before they hurt me." He left the house and looked around the front yard until he spotted Sango and Kagome under a big tree. He smiled with triumph as he realized his luck. He started to walk over to the tree, but saw that they were talking. Suddenly, curiosity his him. If he were to walk up to them now, they'd surely stop talking, and he wanted to hear what they were talking about. Miroku snuck around a car only a few feet away from the tree and got comfortable.

The girls started to laugh and Kagome added, "Speaking of strange guys, what were you and Miroku talking about on the couch?"

Miroku looked hurt, but only for a second. _Hey! Kagome, how can you call me strange, when you're the one running around crying?_

"We were only talking about juice," Sango commented innocently.

"Juice?" Kagome wasn't impressed.

"Yeah, juice."

Kagome started to laugh, "C'mon, Sango, tell me what really happened."

"We really were talking about juice,"Sango said feeling uncomfortable. "And-we-kissed," she quickly blurted out.

Kagome's eyes widened in shock, "You two kissed?"

"Yes," Sango said dreamily,"and it was the best kiss that I've ever had. Oh, Kagome, it was wonderful, and it was so romantic!"

Interested, Kagome asked, "How was it romantic?"

"Promise you wont tell anyone?"

"What? Are you joking? Who would I tell?"

"I just don't want you saying any of this to Miroku."

Kagome sighed and looked at her friend. "Okay, I promise." Sango leaned in towards Kagome, and told her everything that happened.

"And then he was all like 'open your mouth again', so I did, and instead of the juice, which was really good by the way, he kiss me! You remember how we expected a kiss from Miroku would be like, force-full and not really romantic, just a lot of nasty tongue?" Kagome giggled and nodded. "Well, this kiss took me by total surprise, because it was soft and gentle. It actually felt like he meant it, and that he had feelings for me...or something." She sighed, "I would definitely want him to kiss me again. It was that good." Miroku gave himself another triumphic smile.

"Wow, Sango, your true feelings for Miroku are really starting to show."

She blushed,"Don't tell him I like him."

"Why?"

"Because...I don't know. Just don't."

Kagome threw her hands up in the air, giving in, and gave her friend a dissapointed sigh, "Okay, okay. I wont tell him." There was silence between them. Miroku leaned against the car and smiled. _It's finally happening_, he thought. Suddenly, Kagome stood up and said "I'm kind of thirsty."

"Me too," Sango concurred.

"Let's go find Miroku, and get some of that juice," Kagome teased.

"No! Remember you promised!"

Kagome laughed, "I know, I know! C'mon, let's go find some water." And with that said the girls headed towards the house, stepping over passed out body, vomit and beer cans. Miroku got up and followed the girls, sped up his pace, and grabbed onto their shoulders.

"Hello, my lovelies."

The two girls screamed, turned around and sighed once they realized who it was.

"Miroku! You scared us," glared Kagome.

"Oh, please forgive me, I didn't intend to do so."

She said, "It's okay, Miroku."

"So what are the two most lovely ladies doing?"

"Going inside to get a drink of water,"Sango said.

Miroku thought for a minute and suggested, "How about we go to my truck where I have another bottle of sparkling white grape juice?"

Kagome looked at Sango and winked, "That sounds lovely." She giggled. The followed him to the truck, and got glasses of the juice. Sango and Kagome took a sip and smiled at Miroku.

"This is good, Miroku," Kagome announced.

"Thank you. I know, it's way better than getting drunk and looking like a fool."

She looked shocked," Really? I, umm, actually thought you'd be one of those drunks."

"So I've heard, but I'm not that way anymore."

Kagome drank more of her juice, "I guess I still have a lot more to learn about you. I'm sorry, Miroku."

"That's quite alright, Kagome!"

Sango looked at Miroku as she watched him smile at Kagome. _Stop looking at her like that. Smile at me, Miroku, hold me, do anything to me. _She sighed and looked away towards the starts. Miroku excused himself, who was sitting next to Kagome, and moved next to Sango.

"What are you looking at?" he asked.

Sango, who was surprised that he was sitting next to her answered softly,"Just looking at the sky."

Miroku looked up at the sky and smiled, "It's beautiful, just like," he whispered. "It's so clear, with the perfect blue/black tint, and the tiny, shiny, sparkly stars..." Sango blushed. He scooted closer to her, and put his arm around her shoulder. Sango blushed even more as the butterflies in her stomach fluttered about. Kagome decided to leave them alone, and jumped down from the bed of the truck, and decided to find Inuyasha. She felt bad about earlier when she had run away crying and decided that she would apologize.

She could hear Miroku's voice as she walked away,"I could stay here forever just as long as it's with you. Do you know how long I've waited just to hold you like this?" Kagome looked behind her as she watched Sango mouth out the words, "Kiss me..."

Kouga drove far into the night, and came to a fork in the road on a dirt road, looked at the white paper and made a left turned as he zoomed off with dust billowing behind him. He looked up through the top of his Jeep convertible at the clear night sky. He drove one and as he came near to his destination, clouds started forming overhead. _Looks like it might rain, _he said to himself. He kept on driving as the clouds grew thicker. He came up to a log cabin out in the middle of nowhere. Kouga pulled up and parked in front of the house, and as he stepped out of the car a chill went up his spine. The cabin was dark and quiet, and he even wondered if the was the right place or not. He stepped upon the steps of the porch and walked to the front door and knocked, but the door opened by itself.

"Yo! Anybody here?" Kouga said as he stepped into the deserted cabin fearlessly. Suddenly the door slammed shut behind him, but Kouga was unmoved by the sudden movement. The cabin was pitch black, and soon a voice sounded throughout, echoing against the walls calling out his name. "Kouga, I've been expecting you."

Kouga raised an eyebrow, "and?"

Suddenly the lights turned on and Kouga could see the cabin. There was nothing but rotting wood. No furniture, and no person, besides himself. He looked around for the source of the voice, but he was the only one there in the room.

"Who are you?" Kouga asked.

"Call me...Onigumo," said the voice.

Kouga looked around again for the source of the voice. "So...you said you had a proposition for me against Inuyasha, and that would be?"

"Ah, yes, I know how much you hate Inuyasha."

"Uh-huh," he said, sounding bored,"I'm listening."

"Before I go on, please, make yourself more comfortable." A couch appeared out of nowhere in front of him, and Kouga stepped back in defense, ready to fight.

"What trickery is this? Show yourself, Onigumo!"

Onigumo ignored Kouga and continued on,"You and I have something in comon-"

"Oh yeah, what's that?" Kouga asked as he sat down on the couch.

"Good, make yourself at home. We both despise Inuyasha." Kouga laughed at the voice,"That's an understatement."

"Another thing that we have in common is that Inuyasha is in the way of the things we most desire. For you, it would be the young Kagome."

"Yeah, that stupid dog-eared mutt! I would have her right now if it weren't for him."

So we both agree that Inuyasha should be destroyed, am I right?"

Kouga growled with anger,"It would give me so much pleasure in killing that mutt."

"My proposition for you is this: Kill Inuyasha and bring me the Jewel of Augapfel, and I promise that young Kagome will be yours."

Kouga was silent as he thought about this,"Why should I do this for you? I could do it myself with any proposition."

"True, there is no doubt that you are powerful, but I make dreams come true. Bring me the Jewel, and anything your heart desires, including Kagome will be yours. Kill Inuyasha, and you're guaranteed a success. Besides, wouldn't it be easier to have him out of the picture? Why should he disease this world any longer than he has? Kill Inuyasha. Bring me the Jewel of Augapfel."

There was a long pause, and Kouga stood up from the couch. "Alright, I'm interested. You've got a deal, Onigumo."

"Perfect."

Kagome walked into the loud house, and covered her ears. She walked around looking for the idiot with white hair, as drunk men and women were all over each other doing everything you could imagine. A guy swaggered his way towards Kagome. She walked faster to get away from the man and heard a roarious laughter coming from the living room. A group of people ran towards the crowd and tried to see what the commotion and laughter was. Another roar of laughter could be heard and Kagome gave in, and went to see herself. She pushed her way through, trying to see what it was all about when someone grabbed her butt from behind.

"Miro-" She looked at the mand and sighed, "Oh, it's only you."

"Hey, sexay laday! Oh, Kagome! It's you, never mind!" He said with a look of disgust and started molesting another woman.

"What?! What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, but Miroku's brother was already absorbed with the new woman. Kagome shrugged her shoulders and continued to push her way though the crowd. Once again, the crowd started to laugh. She finally pushed her way the front and let out a loud gasp at the sight. There in front of her was Inuyasha holding a teddy bear in one hand, and a bottle of vodka in the other. He began to sing to the bear romantically, dancing around slowly in a circle, hugging the bear with his arm. Kagome blushed as she watched him and felt like she was going to die from embarrassment. _Is he drunk? _She stared with eyes wide at Inuyasha. _He's making a total fool of himself. I should stop him before something really embarrassing happens._

Inuyasha has his eyes closed as he snuggled and cuddled the two objects in his arms. He heard a familiar voice in the crowd and felt someone touch his arm. He jumped back and opened his eyes.

"Kagome!" he said with a big, overly dramatic smile. She smiled back and started to lead him away. "Kagome...here's this...cuz...I am...um, that big word that I never use." He stopped walking and tried to think of what he was going to say. He sat down in the middle of the floor and stared at the ground concentrating super hard. Kagome blushed and tried to get him standing again.

"Inuyasha, just stand up."

"SORRY!" he yelled.

"It's okay, Inuyasha," she said she helped him up. They walked through the kitchen and he stopped again and said "I know, Kagome, but I'm sorry!" He gave her the vodka bottle. "I'm sorry!" she said again. Kagoma looked at him confused, because she had no idea what he was so sorry about.

"For what?"

"For making you cry, and -" his ears perked up and he listened intently. He gasped and screamed excitedly, jumping up and down, dropping the teddy bear as he pulled Kagome towards him. "I love this song!"

Kagome blurted out a laugh,"YOU like Nsync?! Who in the world likes Nsync anymore?!"

Inuyasha ignored her and started to sing. He jumped up on a table, stumbling around and said "This song's for you!" as he pointed at Kagome.

"It's tearing up my heart when I'm with you, and whenever we're apart I feel it tooooo,"he sang loudly, and off key, clutching his heart as he got into the music. Another crowd started to form in the kitchen, watching and laughing at Inuyasha. Kagome hid her face behind her hands and groaned to herself. "Inuyasha, you're embarrassing me!"

He started to dance like Nsync even, with his own seductive moves added towards Kagome. People around them tarted to laugh and point at Kagome, egging him on for more. He grabbed her around the waist and brought her up on the table to join him.

"And no matter what I do, I feel the pain, with or without you," he sang, finishing up the song, and kissing Kagome on the cheek. She gasped with surprise, who was staring at her with big drunken eyes. _Was that for real? Did he just kiss me? Did he mean it, or was it just because he's totally wasted?_ She thought for a bit, _maybe both? _Suddenly, Inuyasha started to sway back and forth and took a drink from the bottle in Kagome's hand, and fell off with a massive thud.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome gasped, jumping down from the table to help him up. Inuyasha groaned and tried to get up, but he was just too drunk. "I"m sorry, Kagome, I didn't want to make you cry." She put a soothing hand on his forehead and petted his hair gently, and understandingly. " I know, Inuyasha." Inuyasha started to cry as the crowd disappeared, and Kagome looked at him in surprise, again. _He can't be that sorry!_

"Inuyasha, it's not your fault that I was crying, it was me. I was just confused-"

Inuyasha shook his head,"No, no, no, it's not that."

"Then what is it?" Kagome asked as if she were talking to a little child.

He sniffled and said with despair, "My drink is gone." A long stream of tears began to fall as he tipped the bottle to show that it was empty. Kagome growled at him, and got up ready to punch him in the shoulder. "Why you...", but she didn't finish, because Inuyasha passed out In front of her, and Kagome couldn't help but feel a little bit sorry for him. "Inuyasha, what did you get yourself into?" she asked helplessly.

She looked around the kitchen for some way to get Inuyasha out of th e house, but couldn't find anything, so she grabbed onto Inuyasha's arms and started to drag him towards the front door, yelling at people to get out of the way. Minutes passed as she hugged and puffed, dragging his heavy body along the floor until she finally reached her car. Inuyasha moaned as she dropped his arms to catch her breath before she put him in her car.

Remembering that she had left Sango with Miroku in the bed of his truck, she called out her name. "Sango? Are you there?" She looked over into the bed, and saw Sango sleeping in the arms of a sleeping Miroku. Her head was resting on his shoulder, and his head was resting on her head. Kagome couldn't help but coo over them. She looked back at Inuyasha, who was snoring and sprawled out on the grass, and coughed out a sign of disgust. She sighed and said out loud as is if he were conscious,"Do I take you home, or do I take you to my house? I guess I can sneak you into my house." She bent down next to him and slapped him across the face as hard as she could. He groaned and mumbled as his eyes slowly opened.

"Oooow," he moaned.

"Get up, Inuyasha," she said firmly.

"Huh? What? Who are you?" he asked a bit startled.

"It's me, Kagome. I'm going to take you home, so that you don't have to sleep on the grass. Now can you please help me, and get into my car?"

"The grass?" he asked confused as he tried to get up. Kagome struggled trying to get him up form the ground, and the smell of his breath was horrid. It was so bad she wanted to die. She finally got him up and helped him into her front seat. She buckled him in and ran to her side of the, got in, and noticed he was about to fall asleep again. Kagome slapped him, which caused him to whimper.

"Stop hitting me, woman!" he roared with anger, rubbing his cheek.

"Don't fall asleep! At least, not until we get to my house. If you fall asleep, I will slap you even harder."

"Yeah, yeah."

Minutes later, after they were on the road for a while, Kagome thought Inuyasha had fallen back to sleep. She looked over at him, ready to slap him when she noted that he was just staring out the windshield quietly.

"Kagome?"

"Hmm?"

"How much loooonger?" he asked in a whiney voice. Kagome rolled her eyes,"Inuyasha, we've got a ways to go."

"Oh," he said and once again the car was silent. However, the silence was interrupted when Inuyasha grabbed his stomach."Oh no!" he said.

"OH NO?! What is it?" She asked panicking.

"I...," he burped," I don't...feel so good."

Those words echoed in her mind over and over again like a bad horror movie. _I, I, I, don't, don't, don't, feel, feel, feel, so, so, so, good, good, good, _as she pictured him puking all over her car.

"No!" she screamed and pulled over to the side of the road quickly, got out of the car, flew open his door, unstrapped him, and yanked him out of the car just as he began to spew. It went all over Kagome, her car, the ground, and himself. When he was finally finished, he collapsed to the ground moaning. Kagome stared wide-eyed at the mess, not even realizing some was all over her. She sighed heavily at the groaning, half-demon lump. She bent down and tried to get him up, noticing she was covered in his vomit as well.

"Ew, Inuyasha! This is nasty, now my car is going to smell so bad."

He sat up and looked at her car,"What are you going to do about it?" he asked coldly.

She ignored him. "Wait right here,"she said as she opened the trunk of her car, got a flashlight and looked through the junk. She found her cheerleading bag and opened it up. She took out an extra shirt and short and her practice uniform, and walked over to Inuyasha with the flashlight still pointed forward.

He squinted his eyes as the light, "Get it out of my face, will ya?" he said with a annoyance.

"Do you have underwear on, Inuyasha?"

"Huh?"

"Nevermind. Just take off your dirty shirt and pants, and put this shirt on." Inuyasha obeyed, but needed help getting them off, so Kagome helped him get into the clothes, noticing his chest. "Your wound is healed! I'm really amazed." Kagome said point at the scar.

Inuyasha looked down at his chest and commented, "Yeah, I heal faster than humans."

Kagome got Inuyasha all cleaned up and back into the car, as she was buckling him in he said "You would be a great mom, someday. You're being so nice to me, even when I was a big jerk to you."

She didn't know whether to thank him or take offense to what he said, but only smiled. "It's what friends do."

Inuyasha looked at her, "Friends?"

"Yeah, we're friends,"she repeated thinking that she felt like she was talking a small child again. She told he she was going to change into some clean clothes as well and that she'd be back soon. He only nodded.

He stared at his hands. _Friends? I want to be your friend, Kagome._ He looked out the window and saw her getting undressed and he blushed, but he couldn't look away. He looked at her skin glistening in the light of her flashlight, and he was mesmerized. _Look away_, he thought. He watched her get dressed and started to sweat. _Think of something else_, he screamed in his mind. _Kikyou! _He closed his eyes, and began to think of his dead love.

Kagome entered the car and saw Inuyash with his eyes closed, mouthing a word over and over again, so she leaned in closer to hear what he was saying.

"Kikyou," he whispered

"Inuyasha?"

He opened his eyes in surprise and looked at her,"Yeah? What?" he replied angrily that his thoughts were interrupted.

"Sorry, I was curious," she said as she began driving again. "Who is this Kikyou that you always talk about?"

Inuyasha sighed, and threw his head back against the seat. "I guess if we're going to be friends, I better tell you." Kagome smiled at the word "friends" and let him continue.

"Kikyou," he sighed sadly,"Kikyou was my , well is, umm, was my girlfriend. I was so in love with her. She was the only human, besides my mother, that I loved. We were going to get married someday." He smiled sadly,"She even wanted kids with me." He laughed softly,"Can you believe that? Me? Of course, I don't want children, because well, look at me."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want them to go through the heartache, and pain that I have."

"Oh."

"Sorry, I got off track."

"That's okay, I'm listening, Inuyasha. Please, tell me more."

Inuyasha whispered,"Well, about a year ago, Kikyou and me were on a walk, and we were attacked by a demon. At the time I didn't know who the demon was, because he had a scent that I had never encountered before." He fell silent.

"What happened next?"

"She was captured."

"Captured?" Kagome asked in shock.

"It went like this: Me and Kikyou went for a walk, like I've already said, and the demon came out of nowhere and took Kikyou before I had any time to react. I heard her scream my name, and I saw a flash run by me and I saw it moving up ahead, so I ran as fast I could after him. I cornered the demon, and that's when he turned around."

"Wow."

"The demon turned around, and there in front of me was my own half-brother-"

"Sesshoumaru?!?!" Kagome couldn't believe it. She knew he was cruel, but to actually kill his brother's love?

"Yes, Sesshoumaru. He told me to give him what was rightfully his, or he would kill Kikyou. Of course, I had no idea what he was talking about. He then asked me what father left me, and once again, I had no idea." He stopped talking and looked out the window.

"What happened next, Inuyasha?"

No answer.

"Inuyasha?" she looked over at him and saw a tear fall down his face. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I'd understand."

He looked over at her, "NO, I want to tell you. Anyways, to make it short, since I had no idea what he was talking about, he killed Kikyou before my eyes."

"Oh my..."

"I miss her so much." He paused hesitantly," you know, you remind me of her."

"I kind of figured that."

The car was silent again and Kagome wondered what he was thinking about. _Probably Kikyou_, she thought. Kagome sighed. _Why am I jealous of a dead girl? _She answered her own question. _Because she holds Inuyasha's heart, th at's why. _Soon Kagome felt eyes staring at her, and a chill went up her spin as she looked over at Inuyasha, who was staring at her, which made her blush.

"You have really pretty hair," he said breaking the silence in the car once again.

Kagome blushed even more than before, "Thank you."

"You know, for the first time since Kikyou, I feel like I can trust someone again. I like you a lot, Kagome. You're so beautiful, and I..." Inuyasha sighed with frustration. "I forgot what I was going to say."

It didn't matter, Kagome's heart was pounding, because all she could hear him say was "I like you". _Do you really like me, or is it your drunkeness talking, Inuyasha? Whatever it is, I think I like you, too, Inuyasha._

The road had been quiet and dark for a long time, and not a soul had been driving either. Kagome found the empty road a major comfort, because she didn't like to drive at night, especially on busy roads. Inuyasha sat silent for a long time after looking out the window, watching the shadowy night drive by. He noticed a light very far off in the distance behind them in the side-view mirror. Kagome noticed it, too.

"That car is coming up really fast," she said nervously as she griped the wheel tighter. Inuyasha looked behind him and saw that the car was coming up fast.

"You'll be fine, just let them pass you, what's the big deal?"

"I just don't like driving at night."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes,"Oh, now you tell me." Then he started to laugh.

She pouted defensively, "What's so funny?" He laughed harder.

"Oh, nothing."

Suddenly the car behind them passed them out of nowhere, and Kagome hadn't seen the car come up that close. It scared her. She looked at the vehicle beside her and gasped. "Kouga?!"

Then the jeep cut her off with only inches to spare.

Inuyasha growled,"Dang! It's Kouga, catch up with him, Kagome!"

"What? No way. I"m not going to catch up with him!"

"Come on, just do it!" he yelled.

She siged and sped up. She could tell by the tone of his voice that Inuyasha really wanted to fight, and she groaned and slapped herself mentally. _Why am I doing this? He's definitely in no condition to fight, let alone even walk by himself._

"Kouga. That jerk! Don't worry, Kagome, I'll protect you."

She took her eyes off the road, and looked at Inuyasha. "Protect me? From what?"

"From that stupid, wolf!"

The red Tiburon sped up faster and faster, gaining on Kouga's Jeep, when he suddenly veered off onto the side of the road and stopped. Inuyasha pointed for Kagome to do the same, and she did. She held the steering wheel tightly, and started to hyperventilate as she thought of the chase. She didn't even notice that Kouga had gotten of his vehicle and was walking towards them, but Inuyasha did.

"This dang door wont open!" he said ramming his shoulder into the door trying to open it.

"Inuyasha, calm down, you need to pull on the lever _then_ push on the door." He did so and fell out of the car cursing. He tried to get up, but he stumbled again.

"Kouga! You could have killed us!" Inuyasha yelled, standing up right and stumbling towards Kouga with fists clinched. Kagome watched Inuyasha and feared for him.

"Inuyasha, you idiot, you'll get hurt." she cried to herself.

"Oh, this is just so perfect, you drunken fool. I could destroy you in seconds,"Kouga laughed.

"I'd like to see you try,"Inuyasha growled, and Kouga growled back. "You know, from the first time that I saw you, I knew I hated you."

Kouga laughed harder,"Well, you were all over _my_ woman!"

Inuyasha laughed back,"HA! Your woman? _Your woman?!" _Inuyasha asked raising his voice in pure anger. Kouga growled again. "Kagome is not yours. She's nobody's property, you jerk! Stay away from her, or you'll have to go through me!"

"She's mine, and there's nothing you can do about it,"Kouga smiled coldly, "oh, but die of course."

"Stay away from her, stupid flea bag of a wolf!"

Kouga heard that and became outraged,"You mangy little dog. At least I'm not a worthless _half-breed_." He charged towards Inuyasha, but in Inuyasha's drunken stupor, so slow to react and felt Kouga's powerful fist against his already queasy stomach. Kagome watched Inuyasha get hit and screamed out his name. Kouga picked Inuyasha up and punched him again. Inuyasha growled and groaned as he got up and again, charging forwards. Kouga dodged him easily and kicked Inuyasha in the knee. Inuyasha fell to the ground.

"Inuyasha!!!" Kagome screamed as she ran to his side. Inuyasha looked up at her and yelled "Get back in the car, stupid!" Kagome ignored him and ran straight towards Inuyasha, but Kouga grabbed her arm and pulled her to him.

"Get away from that...that _beast"_ Kouga said, spitting on Inuyasha.

"The only beast I see is you," Kagome hissed.

"Let go of her Kouga," Inuyasha growled. Kouga held on tighter, forcing Kagome to gasp in pain. "I"m not going to fight you if you have Kagome."

"Good," Kouga said and kicked Inuyasha, but this time he dodged the leg and grabbed Kagome. He hit Kouga's arm with all of his might and hear a loud crack. Kouga let go of Kagome immediately and grabbed his own arm.

"You!" Kouga yelled and charged towards Inuyaha, as he tried to push Kagome out of the way in time, but he was too late. Kouga miscalculated in all of the pain and his punch hit Kagome instead. A loud crack was sounded as Kagome went flying, landing on her back. Kouga glared at Inuyasha.

"Look what you made me do!"

Inuyasha glared at Kouga and stumbled his way over to Kagome. "Kagome!" he whispered.

Kouga stareted to walk towards them, but Inuyasha stopped him. "Go away! Get away from her. Go back to your stupid wolf buddies." Kouga growled and took a step forward, but stopped.

"This isn't over, and I will have so much pleasure in killing you, and taking my prize!" And with that said, he got into his car and drove off.

Sango woke up and saw Miroku. His sleeping face was so sweet and innocent. She even had to bite her lip to keeps from squealing. She was leaning on top of him and didn't want to move, until Miroku stirred a little and opened his eyes. He looked down at her head and smiled, as she sat up and looked at him.

"Hello, and good morning, my beautiful, sweet Sango," he said softly, caressing her face with his hand.

Sango blushed and smiled, "Hi, Miroku." She stretched and sighed as she looked around. The party was quieter and there were more people passed out on the ground. She stood up and stepped out of the bed. "I guess I had better find..." she stopped as she that the red Tiburon was gone. "What the...her car isn't here! She left me!" Miroku stood next to her, and put a reassuring hand on her should.

"I could take you home. It wouldn't be a problem, I promise."

She smiled and nodded an okay. Miroku took a deep breath, stretched his arms and put one around her. "But first we have to find Inuyasha, that is if he didn't leave with Kagome." He smiled mischievously, "yes, that's it, Inuyasha went home with Kagome."

"And how do you know this?"

"I don't," Miroku said as he hopped in the driver's seat of his pick-up. He looked at her as she got into the passenger side and winked. She giggled, and knew perfectly well that Miroku had no intention on finding Inuyasha. At first she thought it was a bit cruel, but she was almost positive she heard Kagome and Inuyasha earlier. For some reason, she really didn't care if he was here. As Miroku stared at her, she couldn't help but get nervous. He wouldn't stop.

"What is it? Stop, Miroku, it's creeping me out." Miroku took her hand in his and kissed it lightly, and she stared at him in shock. "Please, Miroku...don'"

"I love you, Sango,"he whispered tenderly," I always have."

Inuyasha took Kagome's head and laid it on top of his lap, and started to cry. _Kagome, Please, say you're alright. I can't bare it again! Please, be alright!_ He hugged her and didn't know what to do. He began to think about the fight and Kouga, and grew angry again, but he was snapped back to reality when something moved in his embrace. Kagome was moving her head and began to groan in pain. She opened her eyes and looked at Inuyasha. He glared at her and pushed her off his lap, as Kagome lay on the ground looking up at him with utter confusion. _Why did he do that?_ Inuyasha tried to get up and stumbled his way towards the car and got in with his arms crossed. She started to sit up slowly, but her stomach hurt like crazy and she winced in pain.

"Inuyasha, aren't you going to help me up?!"

"Why should I do that?" he said coldly.

Kagome looked at him in bewilderment. _Was he crying over me? _She thought about when she first woke up as she remember a sparkly tear fall upon her cheek. _Why is he being such a hot head? _She stood up slowly and walked to the car, and as she got in she glared at Inuyasha. He ignored her and grunted. Kagome thought he was acting like his normal self,not his drunken self, and she absolutely hated it.

* * *

**A/N: Finally! I finally finished Chapter 5 and all 20 pages of it. dead Anywho, I hoped you liked it. Oh, and sorry for the random Nsync refrences and songs. I couldn't resist. I want to see Inuyasha singing to Nsync. That would be the funniest thing ever. Okay, in my mind it would be. **


End file.
